In token of respect for him, in recognition of his public spirit as a citizen of Edinburgh, and in testimony of their appreciation of his munificence in providing a noble edifice for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
"Your Lordship has also kindly referred to what I may call the second clause in the indictment. That is the clause in the Town Council resolution which speaks of my munificence in providing the noble edifice for the National Portrait Gallery. Now, that the edifice is noble is due mainly to the credit of the architect. Dr. Rowand Anderson has undoubtedly added to the monuments of this already rich and beautiful city an edifice externally ornamental and internally commodious. But I must take leave here to say that after all the building is but the shell, the outward husk of the institution. There is £10,000 still in hand for completing the adornment inside and out of the building. It is expected that this expenditure will give an impulse to the cultivation of decorative art in Edinburgh, mainly, perhaps, through the influence of the School of Applied Art which, as I am glad here to acknowledge, has for the past four years been handsomely supported by the municipal authorities. Some of its students have already been awarded premiums for designs to be executed in the building. As a collection of national portraits the Gallery is yet in its infancy; but it is a thriving baby. That the collection attracts public attention, and so in some degree fulfils its function of illustrating Scottish History, is shown by the fact that since the present galleries were opened in 1889 they have been visited by 213,000 persons."