growing suspicion, that their zeal was stimulated by the prospect of supplanting,
or at least displacing, a powerful and able political opponent, and perhaps
paralysing the administration, of which he was so conspicuous a member.
The proceedings against lord Melville made a deep impression on Mr Pitt, who unfortunately did not survive to congratulate him on his acquittal. According to the author of the article " Great Britain?' in the new edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Mr Pitt was thus deprived "of his only efficient coadjutor, at a time when, from the magnitude of his public cares, he was more than ever in want of support. The consequent fatigue and anxiety made severe inroads on a constitution naturally not strong. His indisposition became apparent in the early part of the winter, and, on the meeting of parliament, it was understood to have reached a dangerous height His (Mr Pitt's) death took place on the 23d January, 1806."
Soon after his acquittal, lord Melville was restored to his place in the privy council; but although the whig administration which was in power at the end of the trial, resigned within a few months, he never returned to office. The loss of his friend, Mr Pitt, and his own advanced age, rendered him little anxious to resume public life; and thenceforward he lived chiefly in retirement; taking part only occasionally in the debates of the house of lords. One of his last appearances was made in the year 1810, when he brought forward a motion recommending the employment of armed vessels, instead of hired transports, for the conveyance of troops. His death, which Avas very sudden, took place in Edinburgh, on the 27th of May, 1811. He died in the house of his nephew, lord chief baron Dundas, in George Square ; having come to Edinburgh, it is believed, to attend the funeral of his old friend, lord president Blair, who had been himself cut off no less suddenly, a few days before, and who lay dead in the house adjoining that in which lord Melville expired.
Lord Melville's person was tall, muscular, and well formed. His features were strongly marked, and the general expression of his face indicated high intellectual endowments, and. great acuteness and sagacity. In public life, he was distinguished by his wonderful capacity for business ; by unwearied attention to his numerous official duties; and by the manliness and straightforwardness of his character. He was capable of great fatigue; and, being an early riser, he was enabled to get through a great deal of business before he was interrupted by the bustle of official details, or the duties of private society. As a public speaker he was clear, acute, and argumentative; with the manner of one thoroughly master of his subject, and desirous to convince the understanding without the aid of the ornamental parts of oratory; which he seemed, in some sort, to despise.
In private life his manner was winning, agreeable, and friendly, with great frankness and ease. He was convivial in his habits, and, in the intercourse of private life, he never permitted party distinctions to interfere with the cordiality and kindness of his disposition; hence, it has been truly said, that whig and tory agreed in loving him; and that he was always happy to oblige those in common with whom he had any recollections of good humoured festivity. But perhaps the most remarkable peculiarity in his character, was his intimate and familiar acquaintance with the actual state of Scotland, and its inhabitants, and all their affairs. In Edinburgh, in particular, there was no person of consideration whose connections and concerns were not known to him. Amongst the anecdotes told of him, there is one which strikingly illustrates the natural kindness of his disposition, while, at the same time, it discloses one of the sources of his popularity. It is said, that, to the latest period of his life, whenever he came to Edinburgh, he made a point of visiting all the old ladies with whom
