Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 3.djvu/57

though neither of them could boast of making a convert of his antagonist, a cordial friendship took place from that day, and a literary correspondence began, which suffered no interruption during their joint lives.”

We have various testimonies of the high respect in which Dr Doig was held by all who were acquainted with him, and the sincere regard felt for him by his friends. Mr Tytler, in his life of lord Kames, embraces the opportunity while treating of the controversy between him and lord Kames, to give a short outline of his life, as a small tribute of respect to the memory of a man whom he esteemed and honoured; and whose correspondence for several years, in the latter part of his life, was a source to him of the most rational pleasure and instruction. John Ramsay of Ochtertyre raised a mural tablet to his memory, on which he placed the following inscription:

DAVID DOIG!

DAVID DOIG!

Dium tempus erit, vale! Quo desiderio mine recorder Colloquia, cœnas, itinera, Quæ tecum olim habui, Prope Taichii marginem, Ubi læti sæpe una erravimus! Sit mihi pro solatio merita tua contemplare. Tibi puero orbo, Ingenui igniculos dedit Pater cœlestis. Tibi etiam grandævo, Labor ipse erat in deliciis. Te vix alius doctrinæ ditior, Nemo edoctus modestior. Tuo in sermone miti lucebant Candor, charitas, jucunda virtus, Ingenii lumine sane gratiora. Defunctum te dolebant octogenarium Cives, discipuli, sodales. Venerande Senex I non omnis extinct us es! Anima tua, sperare lubet, paradisum incolit. Ibi angelorum ore locutura, Ibi per sempiternas Sæculorum setates, Scieiitiæ sitim in terris insatiabilem Ad libitum expletura. J. R.

Farewell through time! With what regret do I now remember, The conversation, the meals, the journeys,[1] Which I have had with thee, On the banks of the Teith, Where, well pleased we often strayed together! Be it my consolation To muse upon thy good qualities. On thee, an orphan, thy heavenly Father Bestowed the seeds of Genius: To thee, even when well stricken in years, Labour itself was delight. Than thee, few more rich in literature, None of the learned more unassuming. In thy converse mildly shone Candour, kindness, amiable virtue, More engaging than the glare of genius. When thou died'st, aged fourscore, Townsmen, scholars, and companions, Dropt a tender tear. Venerable old man, Thou hast not utterly perished! Thy soul, we trust, now dwells in heaven; There to speak the language of angels; There, throughout the endless ages of eternity, To gratify to its wish that thirst for knowledge Which could not be satiated on earth.

A favourite amusement of Dr Doig was the composition of small poetical pieces, both in Latin and English, of which those of an epigrammatic turn were peculiarly excellent. From among those fugitive pieces, the magistrates of Stirling selected the following elegiac stanzas, which he had composed on the subject of his own life and studies, and engraved them upon a marble monument, erected to his memory, at the expense of the community of Stirling.

Edidici quædam, perlegi plura, notavi
⁠Paucula, cum domino mox peritura suo;
Lubrica Pieriæ tentarem praemia palmæ,
⁠Credulus, ingenio heu nimis alta meo.
Extincto famam ruituro crescere saxo
⁠Posse putem, vivo qua mihi nullu fuit!

1. Dr Doig, in company with Mr Ramsay, visited Oxford and Cambridge, in 1791, and some years after, they spent a few weeks together at Peterhead.