the bar was hindered by his advanced political opinions, but he gradually acquired a considerable practice. He was a supporter of the American war of independence, a prominent abolitionist, and so strong a sympathiser with the French Revolution that he attended every anniversary of the fall of the Bastille from 14 July 1789. He acted without fee as counsel for the political reformer Joseph Gerrald and 'other friends of the people' charged with sedition in 1793, and in 1796 was one of the minority of thirty-eight who opposed the deposition of Henry Erskine, dean of the faculty. In 1816 he retired from the bar on account of declining health, and took up his residence at Parkhill, Stirlingshire. Still taking a special interest in questions affecting the burghs of Scotland, he published in 1825 'An Examination of the Grounds on which the Convention of Royal Burghs claimed the right of altering and amending the Setts or Constitution of the Individual Burghs.' He died at Auchindinny House, near Edinburgh, 20 December 1828. He is described by Lord Brougham as 'one of the most upright men that ever adorned the profession, and a man of such stern and resolute firmness in public principle as is very rarely found united with the amiable character which endeared him to private society.' References 1746 births 1828 deaths People from Perthshire Archibald Members of the Faculty of Advocates British reformers