The excellences which marked the character of Dundas were many, and all of the most amiable and endearing kind. In manner he was mild and affable, in disposition humane and generous, and in principle singularly tolerant and liberal--qualities which gained him universal esteem. As presiding judge of the Court of Exchequer, he on every occasion evinced a desire to soften the rigour of the law when a legitimate opportunity presented itself for so doing. If it appeared to him that an offender had erred unknowingly or from inadvertence, he invariably interposed his good offices to mitigate the sentence. “It was in his private life, however,” says his biographer, “and within the circle of his own family and friends, that the virtues of this excellent man were chiefly conspicuous, and that his loss was most severely felt. Of him it may be said he died leaving no good man his enemy, and attended with that sincere regret which only those can hope for who have occupied the like important stations and acquitted themselves as well.” Dundas was one of the few individuals who were spoken favourably of by the Rev. William Auriol Hay Drummond in his “Town Eclogue” (Edinburgh, 1804)-- “Let justice veil her venerable head, When dulness sits aloft in robes of red! Though with delight we upright Cockburn see, With courteous Cullen, deep-read Woodhouselee; In the Chief Baron’s bland, ingenuous face, Read all the worth and talent of his race.” Lord Cockburn, who knew him well, gives an interesting account of Dundas in his “Memorials of his Time” (1856, pp. 156-159). * * * * * WILLIAM TAIT, advocate (died 1800), was the second son of Alexander Tait, one of the principal Clerks of Session, who is referred to in “The Court of Session Garland” (1839, p. 50). He was admitted to Lincoln’s Inn on 4th June, 1777, and became a member of the Faculty of Advocates on 19th February, 1780. He acted as Sheriff-depute of Stirling and Clackmannan from 1790 to 1797, and was member of Parliament for the Stirling District of Burghs from 3rd May, 1797, to 24th February, 1800. He died at Exeter on 7th January, 1800. * * * * *