When  not  employed  judicially,  which  to  him  was  always
an  agreeable  occupation,  old  friends,  young  friends,  espe-
cially the  dear  grandchildren,  books,  and  external  nature,
were  what  he  lived  in  ;  and  all  his  prospects  of  the  gradual
and  now  rapid  closing  of  life  were  composed  and  reason-
able. He  mellowed  so  sweetly,  that  there  was  no  period
of  his  life  when  he  attracted  more  respect  and  affection
than  during  its  last  five  years.
Time  also  changed  his  outward  appearance.  The  bright
manly  eye  remained,  and  the  expressive  energy  of  the  lips,
and  the  clear  sweet  voice,  and  the  erect  rapid  gait.  But
the  dark  complexion  had  become  pale,  the  black  hair  gray,
the  throat  told  too  often  of  its  weakness,  the  small  person
had  become  still  smaller,  and  the  whole  figure  evinced  the
necessity  of  great  care.
Though  preserving  an  undiminished  relish  of  society,  he
could  not  indulge  it  as  formerly ;  and,  among  other  pri-
vations, was  obliged  to  renounce  dinners,  either  given  or
received.  To  compensate  for  this,  he  (Nov.  1844)  made
a  sort  of  revival  of  the  social  cheerfulness  of  the  old
Edinburgh  supper,  without  what  would  now  be  thought  its
convivial  coarseness.  His  house  was  open  to  his  friends,
generally  without  invitations,  every  Tuesday  and  Friday


EVENING    RECEPTIONS.  307

evening,  from  about  nine  to  twelve,  during  the  four  winter
months.  The  party  usually  consisted  of  from  about  ten  to
about  twenty,  or  even  thirty  ladies  and  gentlemen  ;  who,
instead  of  being  left  to  freeze  in  ceremony,  or  to  evaporate
in  words,  sat  at  round  tables,  multiplied  according  to  the
demand,  to  a  moderate  but  not  entirely  a  nominal  refection.
