Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/226

174 hour or two daily to attendance at the bank, and the winding up of his own private concerns occupied an equal share of his attention; but at no period of his life were his public and private acts of benevolence, or his duties in the pastoral office, more attended to than at this time. For some months before February, 1806, it was seen that his health and strength were failing. About the 1st of March of that year he was confined to bed, and died in peace on the 17th day of the same month, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, in his house, Charlotte Street, Glasgow. In his last illness, he frequently expressed his confidence as resting on the fulness, freeness, and simplicity of the gospel truth which he had for so long a period preached to others. His remains were interred in St. David's church burying-ground. No sculptured marble marks the place where all that is mortal of this good man reposes. The spot is indicated by a hewn stone built into the east boundary-wall, inclosed by an iron railing, about midway betwixt the south and north corner of the ground, having on it the following plain inscription:—"The burying-ground of David Dale, merchant, Glasgow, 1780." The funeral was attended by the magistrates, clergy, and chief officials of the city, and by a numerous assemblage of private friends, amounting to several hundreds. Mr. Dale was the father of one son, named William, after his grandfather, who died in 1789, when in his seventh year, and five daughters, all of whom survived him. Two of these are now dead; of the remaining three, two are married to clergymen of the Episcopal Church. In person, Mr. Dale was short and corpulent. A small portrait of him, of no great artistical merit, was etched, which, however, is said to be a fair likeness. His name was not given, but the portrait was entitled, "The Benevolent Magistrate." It was copied into "Kay's Edinburgh Portraits," and also into "Stewart's Views of Glasgow in Former Times." He was of a cheerful temperament, of easy access, lively and communicative; and, when in the company of friends, he freely relaxed all formal restraints. He had a good musical taste, and in the company of his private friends sung some of the old Scotch songs with great effect, particularly the "Flowers of the Forest," with such intense feelings as to draw tears from his auditory. Without giving offence, he could make a pithy and facetious remark; and without taking any, he could bear a joke by a friend, although the subject of it might be some peculiarity or oddity about himself. He once told a friend that he had slipped on the ice, and "fallen all his length." "Be thankful, sir, it was not all your breadth," was the apt reply.

He never took a prominent part in the keen disputes of the party-politics of his day; but, when it was necessary, he avowed himself to be of the aristocratic party then in power. At this period he had a nephew of his own name whom he put into business in Glasgow. This young man was a democrat, and sometimes attended the meetings of the "Friends of the People." Old Mr. Dale was grievously offended on such occasions at seeing it announced in the newspapers that such meetings were honoured by the presence of David Dale, Esq. The establishment of the branch of the Royal Bank in Glasgow, in 1783, proved to be of great service in promoting the trade of the city, especially in the manufacture of cotton goods, which made rapid progress from that date. Mr. Dale's management of the bank business was never objected to; he was discriminating and liberal in granting loans to the industrious prudent trader, while he had the firmness to resist the advances of the mere speculator. An anecdote has been preserved illustrative of his feelings and humanity towards an unfortunate individual who had committed forgery. A young man