History of the Fife Pitcairns

3 04 THE FIFE PITCAIRNS.
The death of the good Duke of Roxburghe was a great
blow to Canon Pitcairn.
His cousin the Duchess had ever been one of his kindest
and best friends, and his correspondence with her, which
lasted for years without a break until about a week before
his last illness, was without exaggeration one of the greatest
pleasures of his life. For her sake he felt the Duke's
death very keenly ; but also he sorrowed deeply himself,
as having lost one who had invariably been kind, always
the same, and who had done so much for him too.
The Duke had a most beautiful character, and was
absolutely simple and unostentatious. The following quo-
tation from a sermon preached by the Rev. Mr Buchanan,
minister of Dunbar at the time, May 3, 1879, will give
better than I can tell a record of his blameless life, and
of the Duchess's ideal character : 1 —
Dunbar.
There are few occurrences which have cast a greater gloom over
Dunbar and the surrounding district than the lamented death of
the Duke of Roxburghe. Among all classes of the community
there has been a feeling of intense sorrow for one who was so
kind and considerate to all with whom he came into contact.
His close connection with the district as a landlord, and the many
kind actions with which his name is associated, had made it a
household word. On Sunday a funeral sermon was preached in the
parish church by the Rev. Mr Buchanan.
Mr Buchanan took for his text Rev. xiv. 13 — "Blessed are the
dead who die in the Lord. Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may
rest from their labours ; and their works do follow them." I am
very sure that you will all at once agree with me when I say that
in the character of the late Duke of Roxburghe there was a con-
spicuous combination of beautiful features, which it is not only
pleasing to bear in affectionate remembrance, but which it would
be hurtful to the best parts of our own natures, and very much to
our loss in every way, to allow ourselves easily to forget. His
picture is, I am certain, already hung up in the most sacred
corner of many a heart, and it will hang there until that heart
shall cease to beat. Born to great estates and one of the proudest
From the ' Kelso Courier ' of May 9.