stanza. It seems hard to guess what Sir Alexander could have Viator, o qui nostra per æquora Undique conglomerantur oris Of SIR JAMES MACDONALD, Bart. Who, in the flower of youth, Had attained to so eminent a degree of knowledge And in every other branch of useful and polite learning, Wholly devoted to study: Yet to this erudition he joined, His eloquence was sweet, correct, and flowing; His judgment strong and acute; With the most amiable temper Procured him, not only in his own country, The highest marks of esteem. 1766, The 25th of his life, After a long and extremely painful illness, Which he supported with admirable patience and fortitude, He died at Rome, Where, notwithstanding the difference of religion, Such extraordinary honours were paid to his memory, As had never graced that of any other British subject, Since the death of Sir Philip Sydney. The fame he left behind him is the best consolation And to his countrymen in this isle, Of a clear and enlightened understanding. Reader, bewail our loss, And that of all Britain. In testimony of her love, And as the best return she can make For the constant tenderness and affection His much afflicted mother, The LADY MARGARET MACDONALD, Daughter to the Earl of Eglintoune, Erected this monument, A. D. 1768. This extraordinary young man, whom I had the pleasure of knowing intimately, having been deeply regretted by his country, the most minute particulars concerning him must be interesting to many. I shall therefore insert his two last letters to his mother, Lady Margaret Macdonald, which her ladyship has been pleased to communicate to me. Sir James Macdonald to Lady Margaret. "Rome, 9th July, 1766. "MY DEAR MOTHER, Yesterday's post brought me your answer to the first letter in which I acquainted you of my illness. Your tenderness and concern upon that account are the same I have always experienced, and to which I have often owed my life. Indeed it never was in so great danger as it has been lately; and though it would have been a very great comfort to me to have had you near me, yet perhaps I ought to rejoice, on your account, that you had not the pain of such a spectacle. I have been now a week in Rome, and wish I could continue to give you the same good accounts of my recovery as I did in my last; but I must own that, for three days past, I have been in a very weak and miserable state, which however seems to give no uneasiness to my physician. My stomach has been greatly out of order, without any visible cause; and the palpitation does not decrease. I am told that my stomach will soon recover its tone, and that the palpitation must cease in time. So I am willing to believe; and with this hope support the little remains of spirits which I can be supposed to have, on the forty-seventh day of such an illness. Do not imagine I have relapsed; I only recover slower than I expected. If my letter is shorter than usual, the cause of it is a dose of physic, which has weakened me so much to-day, that I am not able to write a long letter. I will make up for it next post, and remain always your most sincerely affectionate J. MACDONALD." son, He grew, however, gradually worse; and on the night before his death he wrote as follows from Frescati: "MY DEAR MOTHER, Though I did not mean to deceive No. IV. MEMOIRS OF HIS OWN LIFE, BY THE LATE (Referred to in p. 193, and several subsequent notes.) [1785.] "HAVING often been highly entertained and instructed by |