became one of the most trusted in Scotland, and remained stable in the financial crises and panics of 1772, 1788, and 1793. In 1783 the firm, after difficult preliminaries, began to issue notes. Forbes had become an authority on finance, and in 1783 he took part in preparing the revised Bankruptcy Act. William Pitt used to consult him, and adopted in 1790 some of his suggestions on the stamps on bills of exchange. In 1799 Pitt offered him an Irish peerage, which he declined. The company in 1838 became the Union Bank of Scotland. Forbes worked to win back some of the alienated possessions of his ancestors. Lord Pitsligo's only son, the Hon. John Forbes, had bought Pitsligo. William Forbes bought some of the upper barony (the lower barony had passed by purchase to a stranger), and on the death of John Forbes he succeeded in 1781 to the whole. He improved the estate and laid out the village of New Pitsligo in 1783. In that year he was one of the co-founders of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Forbes was also involved in philanthropic projects in Edinburgh: the High School, the Merchant Company, the Morningside Lunatic Asylum, and the Blind Asylum. Forbes and his business partner Hunter Blair supported the construction of the South Bridge. He also succeeded in giving the Scottish episcopalians a surer standing in Edinburgh. Archibald Alison was brought to the city at his suggestion, and in Alison's works there is a funeral sermon to his memory. His Edinburgh property was Clam Shell Land on the Royal Mile (still marked with a carved clam shell but no longer known by this name) until around 1770 when he moved to a new property in the New Town, Edinburgh. In 1801 he commissioned Edinburgh architect Richard Crichton to build a new mansion, Colinton House, in the grounds of Old Colinton House (which was left to become ruinous), all of which he had purchased from the Foulis family. The property passed to the son William on his death, and is now the main building of Merchiston Castle School. Forbes declined invitations to stand for parliament. He was a member of Samuel Johnson's literary dining club, and he is mentioned in James Boswell's Tour to the Hebrides. Lady Forbes, with whom he made his only lengthy visit to the continent in 1792–3, died in 1802. He died at 39 George