Though reared in confined and
straitened circumstances, Sir William had not only the benefit of an
excellent education, but was under the immediate care and superintendence of
the most respectable gentlemen in Aberdeenshire. His guardians were lord
Forbes, his uncle lord Pitsligo, his maternal uncle Mr Morrison of Bogny,
and his aunt’s husband Mr Urquhart of Meldrum, who were not only most
attentive to the duties of their trust, but habituated him from his earliest
years to the habits and ideas of good society, and laid the foundation of
that highly honourable and gentlemanlike character which so remarkably
distinguished him in after life.
It has been often observed,
that the source of every thing which is pure and upright in subsequent
years, is to be found in the lessons of virtue and piety instilled into the
infant mind by maternal love; and of this truth the character of Sir William
Forbes affords a signal example. He himself uniformly declared, and solemnly
repeated on his death bed, that he owed every thing to the upright
character, pious habits, and sedulous care of his mother. She belonged to a
class formerly well known, but unhappily nearly extinct in this country,
who, though descended from ancient and honourable families, and intimate
with the best society in Scotland, lived in privacy, and what would now be
deemed poverty, solely engaged in the care of their children, and the
discharge of their social and religious duties. Many persons are still
alive, who recollect with gratitude and veneration these remnants of the
olden times; and in the incessant care which they devoted to the moral and
religious education of their offspring, is to be found the pure and sacred
fountain from which all the prosperity and virtue of Scotland has flowed.
Both Sir William’s father and
his mother were members of the Scottish episcopal church; a religious body
which, although exposed to many vexatious and disabilities since the
Revolution in 1688, continued to number among its members many of the most
respectable and conscientious inhabitants of the country. To this communion
Sir William continued ever after to belong, and to his humane and beneficent
exertions, its present comparatively prosperous and enlarged state may be in
a great measure ascribed. It is to the credit of that church, that it formed
the character, and trained the virtues, of one of the most distinguished and
useful men to whom the Scottish metropolis has given birth.
As soon as the education of
her son was so far advanced as to permit of his entering upon some
profession, his mother, lady Forbes, removed to Edinburgh in October, 1753,
where an esteemed and excellent friend, Mr Farquharson of Haughton,
prevailed on the Messrs Coutts soon after to receive him as an apprentice
into their highly respectable banking house—among the earliest
establishments of the kind in Edinburgh, and which has for above a century
conferred such incalculable benefit on all classes, both in the metropolis
and the neighbouring country. The mother and son did not in the first
instance keep house for themselves, but boarded with a respectable widow
lady; and it is worthy of being recorded, as a proof of the difference in
the style of living, and the value of money between that time and the
present, that the sum paid for the board of the two was only forty pounds a
year.
At Whitsunday, 1754, as Sir
William was bound an apprentice to the banking house, she removed to a small
house in Forrester’s Wynd, consisting only of a single floor. From such
small beginnings did the fortune of this distinguished man, who afterwards
attained so eminent a station among his fellow citizens, originally spring.
Even in these humble premises, this exemplary lady not only preserved a
dignified and respectable independence, but properly supported the character
of his father’s widow. She was visited by persons of the very first
distinction in Scotland, and frequently entertained them at tea parties in
the afternoon; a mode of seeing society which, although almost gone into
disuse with the increasing wealth and luxury of modern manners, was then
very prevalent, and where incomparably better conversation prevailed, than
in the larger assemblies which have succeeded. At that period also, when
dinner or supper parties were given by ladies of rank or opulence, which was
sometimes, though seldom the case, their drawing rooms were frequented in
the afternoon by the young and the old of both sexes; and opportunities
afforded for the acquisition of elegance of manner, and a taste for polite
and superior conversation, of which Sir William did not fail to profit in
the very highest degree.
It was an early impression of
Sir William’s, that one of his principal duties in life consisted in
restoring his ancient, but now dilapidated family; and it was under this
feeling of duty, that he engaged in the mercantile profession. The following
memorandum, which was found among his earliest papers, shows how soon this
idea had taken possession of his mind:—"The slender provision which my
father has left me, although he had, by great attention to business and
frugality, been enabled in the course of that life, to double the pittance
which originally fell to him out of the wreck of the family estate, rendered
it absolutely necessary for me to attach myself to some profession, for my
future support and the restoration of the decayed fortunes of my family."—In
pursuance of this honourable feeling, he early and assiduously applied to
the profession which he had embraced, and by this means, was enabled
ultimately to effect the object of his ambition, to an extent that rarely
falls to the lot even of the most prosperous in this world.
His apprenticeship lasted
seven years, during which he continued to live with lady Forbes in the same
frugal and retired manner, but in the enjoyment of the same dignified and
excellent society which they had embraced upon their first coming to
Edinburgh. After its expiry, he acted for two years as clerk in the
establishment, during which time his increasing emoluments enabled him to
make a considerable addition to the comforts of his mother, whose happiness
was ever the chief object of his care. In 1761, his excellent abilities and
application to business, induced the Messrs Coutts to admit him as a
partner, with a small share in the banking house, and he ever after ascribed
his good fortune in life, to the fortunate connexion thus formed with that
great mercantile family But without being insensible to the benefits arising
from such a connexion, it is perhaps more just to ascribe it to his own
undeviating purity and integrity of character, which enabled him to turn to
the best advantage those fortunate incidents which at one time or other
occur to all in life, but which so many suffer to escape from negligence,
instability, or a mistaken exercise of their talents.
In 1763, one of the Messrs
Coutts died; another retired from business through ill health, and the two
others were settled in London. A new company was therefore formed,
consisting of Sir William Forbes, Sir James Hunter Blair and Sir Robert
Herries; and although none of the Messrs Coutts retained any connexion with
the firm, their name was retained out of respect to the eminent gentlemen of
that name who had preceded them. The business was carried on on this footing
till 1773, when the name of the firm was changed to that of Forbes, Hunter,
& Co., which it has ever since been; Sir Robert Herries having formed a
separate establishment in St James street, London. Of the new firm, Sir
William Forbes continued to be the head from that time till the period of
his death; and to his sound judgment and practical sagacity in business,
much of its subsequent prosperity was owing. His first care was to withdraw
the concern altogether from the alluring but dangerous speculations in corn,
in which all the private bankers of Scotland were at that period so much
engaged, and to restrict their transactions to the proper business of
banking. They commenced issuing notes in 1783, and rapidly rose, from the
respect and esteem entertained for all the members of the firm, as well as
the prudence and judgment with which their business was conducted, to a
degree of public confidence and prosperity almost unprecedented in this
country.
In 1770, he married Miss
Elizabeth Hay, eldest daughter of Dr (afterwards Sir James) Hay; a union
productive of unbroken happiness to his future life, and from which many of
the most fortunate acquisitions of partners to the firm have arisen. This
event obliged him to separate from his mother, the old and venerated guide
of his infant years, as her habits of privacy and retirement were
inconsistent with the more extended circle of society in which he was now to
engage. She continued from that period to live alone. Her remaining life was
one of unbroken tranquillity and retirement. Blessed with a serene and
contented disposition, enjoying the kindness, and gratified by the rising
prosperity and high character which her son had obtained; and fortunate in
seeing the fortunes of her own and her husband’s family rapidly reviving
under his successful exertions, she lived happy and contented to an extreme
old age, calmly awaiting the approach of death, to which she neither looked
forward with desire nor apprehension. After a life of unblemished virtue and
ceaseless duty, she expired on the 26th December, 1789.
The benevolence of Sir
William Forbes’s character, his unwearied charity and activity of
disposition, naturally led to his taking a very prominent share in the
numerous public charities of Edinburgh. The first public duty of this kind
which he undertook, was that of a manager of the charity work-house, to
which he was appointed in 1771. At this period the expenditure of that
useful establishment was greater than its income, and it was necessary for
the managers to communicate for several years after with the magistrates and
other public bodies, as to providing for the deficits, and the state and
management of the poor. Sir William Forbes was one of the sub-committee
appointed by the managers to arrange this important matter, and upon him was
devolved the duty of drawing up the reports and memorials respecting that
charity, which during the years 1772 and 1773, were printed and circulated
to induce the public to come forward and aid the establishment; a duty which
he performed with equal ability and success. The means of improving this
institution, in which he ever through life took the warmest interest,
occupied about this period a very large share of his thoughts, and in 1777,
he embodied them in the form of a pamphlet, which he published in reference
to the subject, abounding both in practical knowledge and enlightened
benevolence.
Another most important
institution, about the same period, was deeply indebted to his activity and
perseverance for the successful termination of its difficulties. The late
high school having become ruinous, and unfit for the increasing number of
scholars who attended it, a few public-spirited individuals formed a
committee in conjunction with the magistrates of the city, to build a new
one. Of this committee, Sir William Forbes was chairman; and besides
contributing largely himself, it was to his activity and perseverance that
the success of the undertaking was mainly to be ascribed. The amount
subscribed was £2,300, a very large sum in those days, but still
insufficient to meet the expenses of the work. By his exertions the debt of
£1,100 was gradually liquidated, and he had the satisfaction of laying the
foundation stone of the edifice destined to be the scene of the early
efforts of Sir Walter Scott, and many of the greatest men whom Scotland has
produced.
He was admitted a member of
the Orphan Hospital directory on the 8th of August, 1774, and acted as
manager from 1783 to 1788, and from 1797 to 1801. He always took a warm
interest in the concerns of that excellent charity, and devoted a
considerable part of his time to the care and education of the infants who
were thus brought under his superintendence. He was become a member of the
Merchant Company in 1784, and in 1786 was elected master; an office which
though held only for a year, was repeatedly conferred upon him during the
remainder of his life. He always took an active share in the management of
that great company, and was a warm promoter of a plan adopted long after, of
rendering the annuities to widows belonging to it a matter of right, and not
favour or solicitation. The same situation made him a leading member of the
committee of merchants, appointed in 1772, to confer with Sir James
Montgomery, then lord advocate, on the new bankrupt act, introduced in that
year, and many of its most valuable clauses were suggested by his
experience. In that character he took a leading part in the affairs of the
Merchant Maidens’ Hospital, which is governed by the officers of the
Merchant Company, and was elected governor of that charity in 1786. The same
causes made him governor of Watson’s hospital during the year that he was
president or assistant of the Merchant Company, and president of the
governors of Gillespie’s hospital, when that charity was opened in 1802. He
faithfully and assiduously discharged the duties connected with the
management of these hospitals during all the time that he was at their head,
and devoted to these truly benevolent objects a degree of time which,
considering his multifarious engagements in business is truly surprising,
and affords the best proof how much may be done even by those most engaged,
by a proper economy, in that important particular.
From the first institution of
the Society of Antiquaries, and the Royal Society in 1783, he was a
constituted member of both, and took an active share in their formation and
management. From 1785 downwards he was constantly a manager of the Royal
Infirmary of Edinburgh, and was indefatigable in his endeavours to
ameliorate the situation and assuage the sufferings of the unfortunate
inmates of that admirable establishment. At his death he left £200 to the
institution, to be applied to the fund for the benefit of patients.
In 1787, he was appointed one
of the trustees for the encouragement of manufactures and fisheries, of
which his friend Mr Arbuthnot was secretary, and he continued for the
remainder of his life to be one of its most active and efficient members.
One of the greatest
improvements which Edinburgh received was the formation of the South Bridge
in 1784, under the auspices and direction of his friend Sir James Hunter
Blair. In the management and guidance of this great work that enterprising
citizen was mainly guided by the advice of his friend Sir William Forbes,
and he was afterwards one of the most active and zealous trustees, who under
the 25. Geo. III. c. 28. carried into full execution after his death that
great public undertaking. In selecting the plan to be adopted, the more
plain design which afforded the accommodation required was preferred to the
costly and magnificent one furnished by the Messrs Adams: and with such
judgment and wisdom was the work carried into effect, that it was completed
not only without any loss, but with a large surplus to the public. Of this
surplus £3000 was applied to another very great improvement, the draining of
the Meadows, while the ten per cent addition to the land tax, which
had been levied under authority of the act as a guarantee fund, and not
being required for the purposes of the trust, was paid over to the city of
Edinburgh for the use of the community. When these results are contrasted
with those of similar undertakings of the present age, the sagacity of the
subject of this memoir and his partner, Sir James Hunter Blair, receives a
new lustre, far above what was reflected upon them, even at the time when
the benefits of their exertions were more immediately felt.
In 1785, he was prevailed on
to accept the situation of chairman of the sub-committee of delegates from
the Highland counties, for obtaining an alteration of the law passed the
year before, in regard to small stills within the Highland line. Nearly the
whole labour connected with this most important subject, and all the
correspondence with the gentlemen who were to support the desired alteration
in parliament, fell upon Sir William Forbes. By his indefatigable efforts,
however, aided, by those of the late duke of Athol, a nobleman ever alive to
whatever might tend to the improvement of the Highlands, the object was at
length attained, and by the 25. Geo. III. this important matter was put upon
an improved footing.
Ever alive to the call of
humanity and the sufferings of the afflicted, he early directed his
attention to the formation of a Lunatic Asylum in Edinburgh; an institution
the want of which was at that time severely felt by all, but, especially the
poorer classes of society. Having collected the printed accounts of similar
institutions in other places, he drew up a sketch of the intended
establishment and an advertisement for its support, in March, 1788. Though a
sufficient sum could not be collected to set the design on foot at that
time, a foundation was laid, on which, under the auspices of his son, the
late Sir William, and other benevolent and public spirited individuals, the
present excellent structure at Morningside was ultimately reared.
The late benevolent Dr
Johnston of Leith having formed, in 1792, a plan for the establishment of a
Blind Asylum in Edinburgh, Sir William Forbes, both by liberal subscription
and active exertion, greatly contributed to the success of the undertaking.
He was the chairman of the committee appointed by the subscribers to draw up
regulations for the establishment, and when the committee of management was
appointed, he was nominated vice president, which situation he continued to
hold with the most unwearied activity till the time of his death. Without
descending farther into detail, it is sufficient to observe that, for the
last thirty years of his life, Sir William was either at the head, or
actively engaged in the management of all the charitable establishments of
Edinburgh, and that many of the most valuable of them owed their existence
or success to his exertions.
Nor was it only to his native
city that his beneficent exertions were confined. The family estate of
Pitsligo, having been forfeited to the crown in 1746, was brought to sale in
1758, and bought by Mr Forbes, lord Pitsligo’s only son. His embarrassments,
however, soon compelled him to bring the lower barony of Pitsligo to sale,
and it was bought by Mr Garden of Troup: Sir William Forbes being the
nearest heir of the family, soon after purchased 70 acres of the upper
barony, including the old mansion of Pitsligo, now roofless and deserted. By
the death of Mr Forbes in 1781, Sir William succeeded to the lower barony,
with which he had now connected the old mansion house, and thus saw realized
his early and favourite wish of restoring to his ancient family, their
paternal inheritance.
The acquisition of this
property, which, though extensive, was, from the embarrassments of the
family, in a most neglected state, opened a boundless field for Sir
William’s active benevolence of disposition. In his character of landlord,
he was most anxious for the improvement and happiness of the people on his
estates, and spared neither time nor expense to effect it. He early
commenced their improvement on a most liberal scale, and bent his attention
in an especial manner to the cultivation of a large tract of moss which
still remained in a state of nature. With this view he laid out in 1783, the
village of New Pitsligo, and gave every assistance, by lending money, and
forbearance in the exaction of rent, to the incipient exertions of the
feuars. Numbers of poor cottars were established by his care on the most
uncultivated parts of the estate, most of whom not only paid no rent for the
land they occupied, but were pensioners on his bounty: a mode of proceeding
which, although it brought only burdens on the estate at first, has since
been productive of the greatest benefit by the continual application of that
greatest of all improvements to a barren soil, the labour of the human hand.
The value of this property, and the means of improvement to the tenantry,
were further increased by the judicious purchase, in 1787, of the contiguous
estates of Pittullie and Pittendrum, which by their situation on the
sea-shore, afforded the means of obtaining in great abundance sea-ware for
the lands. The liberal encouragement which he afforded soon brought settlers
from all quarters: the great improvements which he made himself served both
as a model and an incitement to his tenantry: the formation of the great
road from Peterhead to Banff which passed through the village of New
Pitsligo, and to which he largely contributed, connected the new feuars with
those thriving sea ports; and before his death he had the satisfaction of
seeing assembled on a spot which at his acquisition of the estate was a
barren waste, a thriving population of three hundred souls, and several
thousand acres smiling with cultivation which were formerly the abode only
of the moor-fowl or the curlew.
In order to encourage
industry on his estate, he established a spinning school at New Pitsligo,
introduced the linen manufacture and erected a bleach-field: undertakings
which have since been attended with the greatest success. At the same time,
to promote the education of the young, he built a school house, where the
Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge established a teacher;
and in order to afford to persons of all persuasions the means of attending
that species of worship to which they were inclined, he built and endowed
not only a Chapel of Ease, with a manse for the minister, connected with the
established church, but a chapel, with a dwelling house for an episcopal
clergyman, for the benefit of those who belonged to that persuasion.
Admirable acts of beneficence, hardly credible in one who resided above two
hundred miles from this scene of his bounty, and was incessantly occupied in
projects of improvements or charity in his own city.
To most men it would appear,
that this support and attention to these multifarious objects of
benevolence, both in Edinburgh and on his Aberdeenshire estates, would have
absorbed the whole of both his fortune and his time, which could be devoted
to objects of beneficence. But that was not Sir William Forbes’s character.
Indefatigable in activity, unwearied in doing good, he was not less
strenuous in private than in public charity; and no human eye will ever
know, no human ear ever learn, the extensive and invaluable deeds of
kindness and benevolence which he performed, not merely to all the
unfortunate who fell within his own observation, but all who were led by his
character for beneficence to apply to him for relief. Perhaps no person ever
combined to so great a degree the most unbounded pecuniary generosity with
delicacy in time bestowal of the gift, and discrimination in the mode in
which it was applied. Without giving way to the weakness of indiscriminately
relieving all who apply for charity, which so soon surrounds those who
indulge in it with a mass of idle or profligate indigence, he made it a rule
to inquire personally, or by means of those he could trust, into the
character and circumstances of those who were partakers of his bounty: and
when he found that it was really deserved, that virtue had been reduced by
suffering, or industry blasted by misfortune, he put no bounds to the
splendid extent of his benefactions. To one class in particular, in whom the
sufferings of poverty is perhaps more severely felt than by any other in
society, the remnants of old and respectable families, who had survived
their relations, or been broken down by misfortune, his charity was in a
most signal manner exerted; and numerous aged and respectable individuals,
who had once known better days, would have been reduced by his death to
absolute ruin, if they had not been fortunate enough to find in his
descendents, the heirs not only of his fortune but of his virtue and
generosity.
Both Sir William’s father and
mother were of episcopalian families, as most of those of the higher class
in Aberdeenshire at that period were; and he was early and strictly educated
in the tenets of that persuasion. He attended chief baron Smith’s chapel in
Blackfriars’ Wynd, of which he was one of the vestry, along with the
esteemed Sir Adolphus Oughton, then commander-in-chief in Scotland. In 1771,
it was resolved to join this congregation with that of two other chapels in
Carrubber’s Close and Skinner’s Close, and build a more spacious and
commodious place of worship for them all united. In this undertaking, as in
most others of the sort, the labouring oar fell on Sir William Forbes; and
by his personal exertions, and the liberal subscriptions of himself and his
friends, the Cowgate chapel was at length completed, afterwards so well
known as one of the most popular places of worship in Edinburgh. At this
period it was proposed by some of the members of the congregation, instead
of building the new chapel in the old town, to build it at the end of the
North Bridge, then recently finished after its fall, near the place where
the Theatre Royal now stands. After some deliberation the project was
abandoned, "as it was not thought possible that the projected new town could
come to any thing "—a most curious instance of the degree in which the
progress of improvement in this country has exceeded the hopes of the
warmest enthusiasts in the land.
Being sincerely attached to
the episcopalian persuasion, Sir William had long been desirous that the
members of the English communion resident in this country should be
connected with the episcopal church of Scotland: by which alone they could
obtain the benefit of confirmation, and the other solemn services of that
church. He was very earnest in his endeavours to effect this union: and
although there were many obstacles to overcome, he had succeeded in a great
degree during his own lifetime in bringing it to a conclusion. On this
subject he had much correspondence with many leading men connected with the
church of England, archbishop Moore, bishop Porteous, and Sir William Scott,
as well as bishop Abernethy Drummond, and the prelates of the Scottish
episcopal church. In 1793, it was arranged that Mr Bauchor, vicar of Epsom,
should, on the resignation of bishop Abernethy Drummond, be elected bishop,
and the congregation of the Cowgate chapel were to acknowledge him as
bishop. The scheme, however, was abandoned at that time, from a certain
degree of jealousy which subsisted on the part of the established church of
Scotland: but it was renewed afterwards, when that feeling had died away;
and to the favourable impressions produced by his exertions, seconded as
they subsequently were by the efforts of his son, afterwards lord Medwyn,
the happy accomplishment of the union of the two churches, so eminently
conducive to the respectability and usefulness of both, is chiefly to be
ascribed.
His son-in-law, the late able
and esteemed Mr M’Kenzie of Portmore, having prepared a plan for
establishing a fund in aid of the bishops of the Scottish episcopal church,
and of such of the poorer clergy as stood in need of assistance, he entered
warmly into the scheme, and drew up the memoir respecting the present state
of the episcopal church, which was circulated in 1806, and produced such
beneficial results. He not only subscribed largely himself, but by his
example and influence was the chief cause of the success of the
subscription, which he had the satisfaction of seeing in a very advanced
state of progress before his death.
He was, from its foundation,
not only a director of the Cowgate chapel, but took the principal lead in
its affairs. A vacancy in that chapel having occurred in 1800, he was
chiefly instrumental in bringing down the Rev. Mr Alison, the well known
author of the Essay on Taste, then living at a remote rectory in Shropshire,
to fill the situation. Under the influence of that eloquent divine, the
congregation rapidly increased, both in number and respectability, and was
at length enabled in 1818, through the indefatigable exertions of lord
Medwyn, by their own efforts, aided by the liberality of their friends, to
erect the present beautiful structure of St Paul’s chapel in York place. At
the same time, Sir William Forbes, eldest son of the subject of this memoir,
effected by similar exertions the completion of St John’s chapel in Prince’s
Street; and thus, chiefly by the efforts of a single family, in less than
half a century, was the episcopal communion of Edinburgh raised from its
humble sites in Blackfriars’ Wynd and Carrubber’s Close, and placed in two
beautiful edifices, raised at an expense of above £30,000, and which must
strike the eye of every visitor from South Britain, as truly worthy of the
form of worship for which they are designed.
Sir William had known Mr
Alison from his infancy: and from the situation which the latter now held in
the Cowgate chapel, they were brought into much closer and more intimate
friendship, from which both these eminent men derived, for the remainder of
their lives, the most unalloyed satisfaction. Mr Alison attended Sir William
during the long and lingering illness which at length closed his beneficent
life, and afterwards preached the eloquent and impressive funeral sermon,
which is published with his discourses, and pourtrays the character we have
here humbly endeavoured to delineate in a more detailed form.
When the new bankrupt act,
which had been enacted only for a limited time, expired in 1783, Sir William
Forbes was appointed convener of the mercantile committee in Edinburgh,
which corresponded with the committees of Glasgow and Aberdeen, of which
provost Colquhoun and Mr Milne were respectively conveners; and their united
efforts and intelligence produced the great improvement upon the law which
was effected by that act. By it the sequestration law, which under the old
statute had extended to all descriptions of debtors, was confined to
merchants, traders, and others properly falling under its spirit; the well
known regulations for the equalization of arrestments and poindings within
sixty days, were introduced; sequestrations, which included at first only
the personal estate, were extended to the whole property; and the greatest
improvement of all was introduced, namely, the restriction of what was
formerly alternative to a system of private trust, under judicial control.
Sir William Forbes, who corresponded with the London solicitor who drew the
bill, had the principal share in suggesting these the great outlines of the
system of mercantile bankruptcy in this country; and accordingly, when the
convention of royal burghs who paid the expense attending it, voted thanks
to the lord advocate for carrying it through parliament, they at the same
time (10th July, 1783,) directed their preses to "convey the thanks of the
convention to Sir William Forbes, Ilay Campbell, Esq., solicitor-general for
Scotland, and Mr Milne, for their great and uncommon attention to the bill."
On the death of Mr Forbes of
Pitsligo, only son of lord Pitsligo, in 1782, whose estate and title were
forfeited for his accession to the rebellion in 1745, Sir William Forbes, as
the nearest heir in the female line of the eldest branch of the family of
Forbes, claimed and obtained, from the Lyon court, the designation and arms
of Pitsligo. He was the heir of the peerage under the destination in the
patent, if it had not been forfeited.
Hitherto Sir William Forbes’s
character has been considered merely as that of a public-spirited, active,
and benevolent gentleman, who, by great activity and spotless integrity, had
been eminently prosperous in life, and devoted, in the true spirit of
Christian charity, a large portion of his ample means and valuable time to
the relief of his fellow creatures, or works of public utility and
improvement; but this was not his only character: he was also a gentleman of
the highest-breeding, and most dignified manners; the life of every scene of
innocent amusement or recreation; the head of the most cultivated and
elegant society in the capital; and a link between the old Scottish
aristocratical families, to which he belonged by birth, and the rising
commercial opulence with which he was connected by profession, as well as
the literary circle, with which he was intimate from his acquirements.
In 1768, he spent nearly a
twelvemonth in London, in Sir Robert, then Mr. Herries’ family; and such was
the opinion formed of his abilities even at that early period, that Sir
Robert anxiously wished him to settle in the metropolis in business; but
though strongly tempted to embrace this offer, from the opening which it
would afford to London society, of which he was extremely fond, he had
sufficient good sense to withstand the temptation, and prefer the more
limited sphere of his own country, as the scene of his future usefulness.
But his residence in London at that time had a very important effect upon
his future life, by introducing him to the brilliant, literary, and
accomplished society of that capital, then abounding in the greatest men who
adorned the last century; Dr Johnson, Mr Burke, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr
Gibbon, Mr Arbuthnot, and a great many others. He repeatedly visited London
for months together at different times during the remainder of his life, and
was nearly as well known in its best circles as he was in that of his own
country. At a very early period of his life he had conceived the highest
relish for the conversation of literary men, and he never afterwards omitted
an occasion of cultivating those whom chance threw in his way; the result of
which was, that he gradually formed an acquaintance, and kept up a
correspondence, with all the first literary and philosophical characters of
his day. He was early and intimately acquainted with Dr John Gregory, the
author of the "Father’s Legacy to his Daughters," and one of the most
distinguished ornaments of Scotland at that period, both when he was
professor of medicine at Aberdeen, and after he had been removed to the
chair of the theory of medicine in Edinburgh; and this friendship continued
with so much warmth till the death of that eminent man, that he named him
one of the guardians to his children; a duty which he discharged with the
most scrupulous and exemplary fidelity. At a still earlier period he became
intimate with Mr Arbuthnot; and this friendship, founded on mutual regard,
continued unbroken till the death of that excellent man, in 1803. His
acquaintance with Dr Beattie commenced in 1765, and a similarity of tastes,
feelings, and character, soon led to that intimate friendship, which was
never for a moment interrupted in this world, and of which Sir William has
left so valuable and touching a proof in the life of his valued friend,
which he published in 1805. So high an opinion had Dr Beattie formed, not
only of his character, but judgment and literary acquirements, that he
consulted him on all his publications, and especially on a "Postscript to
the second edition of the Essay on Truth," which he submitted before
publication to Dr John Gregory, Mr Arbuthnot, and Sir William.
He formed an acquaintance
with Mrs Montague, at the house of Dr Gregory in Edinburgh, in 1766; and
this afforded him, when he went to London, constant access to the
drawing-room of that accomplished lady, then the centre not only of the
whole literary and philosophical, but all the political and fashionable
society of the metropolis. He there also became acquainted with Dr Porteous,
then rector of Lambeth, and afterwards bishop of London, not only a divine
of the highest abilities, but destined to become a prelate of the most
dignified and unblemished manners, with whom he ever after kept up a close
and confidential correspondence. Sylvester Douglas, afterwards lord
Glenbervie, was one of his early and valued friends. He also was acquainted
with Dr Moore, then dean, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury; and Bennet
Langton, a gentleman well known in the highest literary circles of London.
Sir Joshua Reynolds early obtained a large and deserved share of his
admiration and regard, and has left two admirable portraits of Sir William,
which convey in the happiest manner the spirit of the original; while Dr
Johnson, whose acquaintance with him commenced in 1773, on his return from
his well known tour in the Hebrides, conceived such a regard for his
character, that he ever after, on occasion of his visits to London, honoured
him with no common share of kindness and friendship. With Mr Boswell, the
popular author of the "Life of Johnson," he was of course through his whole
career on intimate terms. Miss Bowdler, well known for her valuable writings
on religious subjects; lord Hailes, the sagacious and enlightened antiquary
of Scottish law; Mr Garrick, and Mr Burke, were also among his
acquaintances. But it is superfluous to go farther into detail on this
subject; suffice it to say, that he was an early member of the Literary Club
in London, and lived all his life in terms of acquaintance or intimacy with
its members, which contained a list of names immortal in English history;
Samuel Johnson, Edmund Burke, Joshua Reynolds, Oliver Goldsmith, Thomas
Warton, Edward Gibbon.
The friendship and
acquaintance of such men necessarily led Sir William Forbes into a very
extensive and interesting literary correspondence, a species of composition
then much more usual than at this time, and which, if it sometimes engrossed
time which might have been employed to more advantage, always exhibited a
picture of thoughts and manners which future ages will look for in vain in
the present generation of eminent men. His papers accordingly, contain a
selection of interesting letters from great men, such as it rarely fell to
the lot of any single individual, how fortunate or gifted soever, to
accumulate. He was employed after the death of his esteemed and venerable
friend, Mr Carr, of the Cowgate chapel, by his bequest, in the important
duty of arranging and preparing the sermons for publication, which were
afterwards given to the world; and he prepared, along with Dr Beattie and Mr
Arbuthnot, the simple and pathetic inscription, which now stands over the
grave of that excellent man, at the west end of St Paul’s chapel, Edinburgh.
His intimate acquaintance
with the first literary characters of the day, and the extensive
correspondence which had thus fallen into his hands, probably suggested to
Sir William Forbes the idea of writing the life of Dr Beattie, one of his
earliest and most valued friends, and whose eminence was not only such as to
call for such an effort of biography, but whose acquaintance with all the
eminent writers of the time, rendered his life the most favourable
opportunity for portraying the constellation of illustrious men who shed a
glory over Scotland at the close of the eighteenth century. He executed this
work accordingly, which appeared in 1805, shortly before his death, in such
a way as to give the most favourable impression of the distinction which he
would have attained as an author, had his path in general not lain in a more
extended and peculiar sphere of usefulness. It rapidly went through a second
edition, and is now deservedly ranked high among the biographical and
historical remains of the last century. Independent of the value and
interest of the correspondence from the first characters of the day which it
contains, it embraces an admirable picture of the life and writings of its
more immediate subject, and is written in a lucid and elegant style, which
shows how well the author had merited the constant intercourse which he
maintained with the first literary characters of the age. Of the moral
character of the work, the elevated and Christian sentiments which it
conveys, no better illustration can be afforded, than by the transcript of
the concluding paragraph of the life of his eminent friend; too soon, and
truly, alas! prophetic of his own approaching dissolution:
"Here I close my account of
the Life of Dr Beattie; throughout the whole of which, I am not conscious of
having, in any respect, misrepresented either his actions or his character;
and of whom to record the truth is his best praise.
"On thus reviewing the long
period of forty years that have elapsed since the commencement of our
intimacy, it is impossible for me not to be deeply affected by the
reflection, that of the numerous friends with whom he and I were wont to
associate, at the period of our earliest acquaintance, all, I think, except
three, have already paid their debt to nature; and that in no long time,
(how soon is only known to Him, the great Disposer, of all events) my grey
hairs shall sink into the grave, and I also shall be numbered with those who
have been. May a situation so awful make its due impression on my mind! and
may it be my earnest endeavour to employ that short portion of life which
yet remains to me, in such a manner, as that, when that last dread hour
shall come, in which my soul shall be required of me, I may look forward
with trembling hope to a happy immortality, through the merits and mediation
of our ever blessed Redeemer !"
Nor was Sir William Forbes’s
acquaintance by any means confined to the circle of his literary friends,
how large and illustrious soever that may have been. It embraced also, all
the leading fashionable characters of the time; and at his house were
assembled all the first society which Scotland could produce in the higher
ranks. The duchess of Gordon, so well known by her lively wit and singular
character; the duke of Athol, long the spirited and patriotic supporter of
Highland improvements; Sir Adolphus Oughton, the respected and esteemed
commander-in-chief, were among his numerous acquaintances. Edinburgh was not
at that period as it is now, almost deserted by the nobility and higher
classes of the landed proprietors, but still contained a large portion of
the old or noble families of the realm; and in that excellent society,
combining, in a remarkable degree, aristocratic elegance, with literary
accomplishments, Sir William Forbes’s house was perhaps the most
distinguished. All foreigners, or Englishmen coming to Scotland, made it
their first object to obtain letters of introduction to so distinguished a
person; and he uniformly received them with such hospitality and kindness as
never failed to make the deepest impression on their minds, and render his
character nearly as well known in foreign countries as his native city.
Of the estimation in which,
from this rare combination of worthy qualities, he was held in foreign
countries, no better proof can be desired than is furnished by the following
character of him, drawn by an Italian gentleman who visited Scotland in
1789, and published an account of his tour at Florence in the following
year.—"Sir William Forbes is descended from an ancient family in Scotland,
and was early bred to the mercantile profession, and is now the head of a
great banking establishment in Edinburgh. The notes of the house to which he
belongs circulate like cash through all Scotland, so universal is the
opinion of the credit of the establishment. A signal proof of this recently
occurred, when, in consequence of some mercantile disasters which had shaken
the credit of the country, a run took place upon the bank. He refused the
considerable offers of assistance which were made by several of the most
eminent capitalists of Edinburgh, and by his firmness and good countenance
soon restored the public confidence. He has ever been most courteous and
munificent to strangers; nor do I ever recollect in any country to have
heard so much good of any individual as this excellent person. His manners
are in the highest degree both courteous and dignified; and his undeviating
moral rectitude and benevolence of heart, have procured for him the
unanimous respect of the whole nation. An affectionate husband, a tender and
vigilant father, his prodigious activity renders him equal to every duty. He
has not hitherto entered upon the career of literature or the arts; but he
has the highest taste for the works of others in these departments, and his
house is the place where their professors are to be seen to the greatest
advantage. He possesses a very fine and well chosen selection of books, as
well as prints, which he is constantly adding to. Nothing gives him greater
pleasure than to bring together the illustrious men of his own country and
the distinguished foreigners who are constantly introduced to his notice;
and it was there accordingly, that I met with Adam Smith, Blair, Mackenzie,
Ferguson, Cullen, Black, and Robertson; names sufficient to cast a lustre
over any century of another country." -_Letters sur Inghilterra, Scozia
et Olanda, ii. 345.
Besides his other admirable
qualities, Sir William Forbes was accomplished in no ordinary degree. He was
extremely fond of reading, and notwithstanding his multifarious duties and
numerous engagements, found time to keep up with all the publications of the
day, and to dip extensively into the great writers of former days. He was a
good draughtsman, and not only sketched well from nature himself, but formed
an extensive and very choice collection of prints both ancient and modern.
He was also well acquainted with music, and in early life played with
considerable taste and execution on the flute and musical glasses. His
example and efforts contributed much to form the concerts which at that
period formed so prominent a part of the Edinburgh society; and his love for
gayety and amusement of every kind, when kept within due bounds, made him a
regular supporter of the dancing assemblies, then frequented by all the rank
and fashion of Scotland, and formed in a great measure under his guidance
and auspices.
Friendship was with him a
very strong feeling, founded on the exercise which it afforded to the
benevolent affections. He often repeated the maxim of his venerated friend
and guardian, lord Pitsligo,— "It is pleasant to acquire knowledge, but
still more pleasant to acquire friendship."—No man was ever more warm and
sincere in his friendships, or conferred greater acts of kindness on those
to whom he was attached; and none left a wider chasm in the hearts of the
numerous circles who appreciated his character.
He was extremely fond of
society, and even convivial society, when it was not carried to excess. The
native benevolence of his heart loved to expand in the social intercourse
and mutual good will which prevailed upon such occasions. He thought well of
all, judging of others by his own singleness and simplicity of character.
His conversational powers were considerable, and his store of anecdotes very
extensive. He uniformly supported, to the utmost of his power, every project
for the amusement and gratification of the young, in whose society he always
took great pleasure, even in his advanced years; insomuch, that it was hard
to say whether he was the greatest favourite with youth, manhood, or old
age.
No man ever performed with
more scrupulous and exemplary fidelity the important duties of a father to
his numerous family, and none were ever more fully rewarded, even during his
own lifetime, by the character and conduct of those to whom he had given
birth. In the "Life of Dr Beattie," ii. 136, and 155, mention is made of, a
series of letters on the principles of natural and revealed religion, which
he had prepared for the use of his children. Of this work, we are only
prevented by our limits from giving a few specimens.
He was intimately acquainted
with lord Melville, and by him introduced to Mr Pitt, who had frequent
interviews with him on the subject of finance. In December, 1790, he was, at
Mr Pitt’s desire, consulted on the proposed augmentation of the stamps on
bills of exchange, and many of his suggestions on the subject were adopted
by that statesman.
No man could have more
successfully or conscientiously conducted the important banking concern
entrusted to his care. The large sums deposited in his hands, and the
boundless confidence universally felt in the solvency of the establishment,
gave him very great facilities, if he had chosen to make use of them, for
the most tempting and profitable speculations. But he uniformly declined
having any concern in such transactions; regarding the fortunes of others
entrusted to his care as a sacred deposit, to be administered with more
scrupulous care and attention than his private affairs. The consequence was,
that though he perhaps missed some opportunities of making a great fortune,
yet he raised the reputation of the house to the highest degree for prudence
and able management, and thus laid the foundation of that eminent character
which it has ever since so deservedly enjoyed.
One peculiar and most
salutary species of benevolence, was practised by Sir William Forbes to the
greatest extent. His situation as head of a great banking establishment, led
to his receiving frequent applications in the way of business for
assistance, from young men not as yet possessed of capital. By a happy
combination of caution with liberality in making these advances, by
inquiring minutely into the habits and moral character of the individuals
assisted, and proportioning the advance to their means and circumstances, he
was enabled, to an almost incredible extent, to assist the early efforts of
industry, without in the least endangering the funds committed by others to
his care. Hundreds in every rank in Edinburgh were enabled, by his paternal
assistance, to commence life with advantage, who otherwise could never have
been established in the world; and numbers who afterwards rose to affluence
and prosperity, never ceased in after years to acknowledge with the warmest
gratitude, the timely assistance which first gave the turn to their
heretofore adverse fortunes, and laid the foundation of all the success
which they afterwards attained.
The benevolence of his
disposition and the warmth of his heart seemed to expand with the advance of
life and the increase of his fortune. Unlike most other men, he grew even
more indulgent and humane, if that were possible, in his older than his
earlier years. The intercourse of life, and the experience of a most
extensive business, had no effect in diminishing his favourable opinion of
mankind, or cooling his ardour in the pursuit of beneficence. Viewing others
in the pure and unsullied mirror of his own mind, he imputed to them the
warm and benevolent feelings with which he himself was actuated; and thought
they were influenced by the same high springs of conduct which directed his
own life. It was an early rule with him to set aside every year a certain
portion of his income to works of charity, and this proportion increasing
with the growth of his fortune, ultimately reached an almost incredible
amount. Unsatisfied even with the immense extent and growing weight of his
public and private charities, he had, for many years before his death,
distributed large sums annually to individuals on whom he could rely to be
the almoners of his bounty; and his revered friend, bishop Jolly, received
in this way £100 a year, to be distributed around the remote village of
Fraserburgh, in Aberdeen-shire. These sums were bestowed under the most
solemn promise of secrecy, and without any one but the person charged with
the bounty being aware who the donor was. Numbers in this way in every part
of the country partook of his charity, without then knowing whose was the
hand which blessed them; and it frequently happened, that the same persons
who had been succoured by his almoners, afterwards applied to himself; but
on such occasions he invariably relieved them if they really seemed to
require assistance; holding, as he himself expressed it, that his public and
private charities were distinct; and that his right hand should not know
what his left hand had given.
Lady Forbes having fallen
into bad health, he was advised by her physician to spend the winter of
1792-3 in the south of Europe; and this gave him an opportunity of enjoying
what he had long desired, without any probable prospect of obtaining—a visit
to the Italian peninsula. He left Scotland in autumn, 1792; and returned in
June, 1793. His cultivated taste made him enjoy this tour in the very
highest degree; and the beneficial effect it produced on lady Forbes’s
health, permitted him to feel the luxury of travelling in those delightful
regions without any alloy. In going up the Rhine, he was arrested by a
sentinel, while sketching the splendid castellated cliffs of Ehrenbreitzen;
and only liberated on the commanding officer at the guard-house discovering
that his drawings had nothing of a military character. The English society
at Rome and Naples was very select that year, and he made many agreeable
acquaintances, both in the Italian and British circles; to which he always
afterwards looked back with the greatest interest. During the whole tour he
kept a regular journal, which he extended when he returned home, at
considerable length.
He was frequently offered a
seat in parliament, both for the city of Edinburgh, and the county of
Aberdeen; but he uniformly declined the offer. In doing so, he made no small
sacrifice of his inclinations to a sense of duty; for no man ever enjoyed
the society of the metropolis more than he did; and none had greater
facilities for obtaining access to its most estimable branches, through his
acquaintance with Dr Johnson, the Literary Club, the archbishop of
Canterbury, and the bishop of London. But he felt that the attractions of
this refined and intellectual society might withdraw him too much from his
peculiar and allotted sphere of usefulness in life; and, therefore, he made
a sacrifice of his private wishes in this particular to his conscientious
feelings: a proceeding which, though strictly in unison with what his
character would lead us to expect, is a greater instance of self-denial,
than most men under similar temptations could have exerted.
His high character, extensive
wealth, and old, and once ennobled family, naturally pointed him out as the
person, in all Scotland, most worthy of being elevated to the peerage. In
1799, accordingly, his friend lord Melville wrote to him, that Mr Pitt
proposed to recommend to his majesty to bestow an Irish peerage upon him.
Though highly flattered by this unsolicited mark of regard in so high a
quarter, his native good sense at once led him to see the disadvantages of
the glittering offer. After mentioning it to lady Forbes, who entirely
concurred with him, he resolved, however, to lay the matter before his
eldest son, the late Sir William, whom he justly considered as more
interested in the proposed honour, than he could be at his advanced years.
He communicated the proposal, accordingly, to Mr Forbes, without any
intimation of his opinion, and desired him to think it maturely over before
giving his answer. Mr Forbes returned next day, and informed him, that
personally he did not desire the honour; that he did not conceive his
fortune was adequate to the support of the dignity; and that, although he
certainly would feel himself bound to accept the family title of Pitsligo,
if it was to be restored, yet, he deemed the acceptance of a new title too
inconsistent with the mercantile establishment with which his fortunes were
bound up, to render it an object of desire. Sir William informed him that
these were precisely his own ideas on the subject; that he was extremely
happy to find that they prevailed equally with one so much younger in years
than himself; and that he had forborne to express his own ideas on the
subject, lest his parental influence should in any degree interfere with the
un-biassed determination of individual more particularly concerned than
himself. The honour, accordingly, was respectfully declined; and at the same
time so much secrecy observed respecting a proposal, of which others would
have been ready to boast, that it was long unknown to the members even of
his own family, and only communicated shortly before his death, by the late
Sir William, to his brothers, lord Medwyn, and George Forbes, Esq., on whose
authority the occurrence is now given.
So scrupulous were his
feelings of duty, that they influenced him in minutest particulars, which by
other men are decided on the suggestion of the moment, without any
consideration. An instance of this occurred at Rome, in spring, 1793. Sir
William was at St Peter’s when high mass was performed by cardinal York. He
naturally felt a desire to see the last descendant of a royal and
unfortunate family, in whose behalf his ancestors had twice taken the field;
and was in the highest degree gratified by seeing the ceremony performed by
that notable individual. After the mass was over, it was proposed to him to
be presented to the cardinal; but though very desirous of that honour, he
felt at a loss by what title to address him, as he had taken the title of
Henry IX., by which he was acknowledged by France and the pope. To have
called him, "your majesty," seemed inconsistent with the allegiance he owed,
and sincerely felt, to the reigning family in Britain; while, to have
addressed him as "your eminence," merely, might have hurt the feelings of
the venerable cardinal, as coming from the descendant of a house noted for
their fidelity to his unfortunate family. The result was, that he declined
the presentation; an honour which, but for that difficulty, would have been
the object of his anxious desire.
But the end of a life of so
much dignity and usefulness, the pattern of benevolence, refinement, and
courtesy, was at length approaching. He had a long and dangerous illness in
1791, from which, at the time, he had no hopes of recovery; and which he
bore with the resignation and meekness which might have been expected from
his character. Though that complaint yielded to the skill of his medical
friends, it left the seeds of a still more dangerous malady, in a tendency
to water in the chest. In 1802, he had the misfortune to lose lady Forbes,
the loved and worthy partner of his virtues; which sensibly affected his
spirits, though he bore the bereavement with the firmness and hope which his
strong religious principles inspired. In May, 1806, shortly after his return
from London, whither he had been summoned as a witness on lord Melville’s
trial, he began to feel symptoms of shortness of breath; and the last house
where he dined was that of his son, lord Medwyn, on occasion of the
christening of one of his children, on the 28th of June, 1806. After that
time, he was constantly confined to the house; the difficulty of breathing
increased, and his sufferings for many months were very severe. During all
this trying period, not a complaint ever escaped his lips. He constantly
prayed for assistance to be enabled to bear whatever the Almighty might
send; and at length death closed his memorable career, on the 12th November,
1806; when surrounded by his family, and supported by all the hopes and
consolations of religion, amidst the tears of his relations, and the
blessings of his country.
Sir William Forbes was
succeeded in his title and estates by his son, the late Sir William, a man
of the most amiable and upright character, who having been cut off in the
middle of his years and usefulness, was succeeded by his son, the present
Sir John Stuart Forbes. The subject of our memoir left two sons, Mr. John
Ray Forbes (lord Medwyn) and Mr George Forbes, and five daughters, four of
whom were married: lady Wood, wife of Sir Alexander Wood; Mrs Macdonald of
Glengarry; Mrs. Skene of Rubislaw; and Mrs Mackenzie of Portmore. We close
this notice of Sir William Forbes in the words of Sir Walter Scott, who, in
his notes to "Marmion," remarks of him, that he was "unequalled, perhaps, in
the degree of individual affection entertained for him by his friends, as
well as in the general esteem and respect of Scotland at large;" and who, in
that noble poem, commemorates his virtues with equal truth and tenderness:—
"Far may we search, before we
find
A heart so manly and so kind!"