After her father died, Dorothea went to live with her godmother, Mrs Montague, under whose care she spent the rest of her unmarried life. She was made very happy, and gave great pleasure wherever she went. She had inherited, if not all her mother’s beauty, a great share of it, and her nature was as sweet and strong as her father’s and mother’s in one. When Sir William Pulteney, who had been a friend of her father’s, heard of Dorothea’s engagement to the Rev. Archibald Alison, he wanted to satisfy himself that she was making a suitable marriage, and with this object in view went himself to see if all the good things that were said about the bridegroom were true. He gives a pleasant description of the expedition. ‘Andrew Stuart and I accompanied Mr Alison to Thrapston, and the marriage took place on the 19th, by a license from the Archbishop of Canterbury. I conducted them afterwards to their residence, and we left them next morning after breakfast, as happy as it is possible for people to be. Mr Alison was obliged to come round by London, in order to take an oath at granting the license, and I was glad of the opportunity which the journey afforded me of making an acquaintance with him; for tho’ I had little doubt that Miss Gregory had made a proper choice, yet I wished to be perfectly satisfied, and the result is, that I think neither you nor Mr Nairne have said a word too much in his favour.’ Dorothea Gregory’s two sons were William Pulteney Alison, Professor of the Practice of Physic, and Sir Archibald Alison, the historian. Her daughter Montague, before her marriage with Colonel Gerard, was loved by Thomas Campbell, the poet, and by Francis Jeffrey. Anna, John Gregory’s second daughter, married John Forbes, Esq. of Blackford, in Aberdeenshire. William the second son went into the Church, and was appointed one of the ‘six preachers’ in Canterbury Cathedral. Of his sons one was a successful doctor in London, and another, John, Governor of the Bahammas, was the father of Mr Philip Spencer Gregory, who has already been referred to in this book. Dr Gregory changed the spelling of his name from Gregorie to Gregory during his stay in London. Curiously enough, the only other branch of the Gregories who had up to that time emigrated to the south had made the same alteration. Professor John Gregory’s fame, while it may not have extended as widely as that of his son, was yet far-reaching. When Beattie had an interview with the king in 1773, His Majesty made special enquiries about his First Physician for Scotland. This was probably shortly after the professor’s death. His life published in 1800 along with sketches of Lord Kames, David Hume, and Adam Smith, ends with these words— ‘Upon the whole, whether he is considered as a man of genius and of the world, or with regard to his conduct in the line of his profession, few human characters will be found to equal that of the late Dr John Gregory.’ CHAPTER IX