Robert Dundas of Arniston, Lord Advocate of Scotland

Kay's centrally located print shop, near Edinburgh's Parliament Square gave him access of local notables whom he could observe speaking in court and at goverment procedings. Here, he portrays a leading Scottish judge Robert Dundas dressed in robes and a wig, facing right, with a clenched fist atop some papers. The subject had been appointed Lord Advocate in 1789 and elected Member of Parliament for Edinburghshire a year later, holding both offices until 1801, when became Chief Baron of the Exchequer in Scotland.
When Kay made this etching Dundas had proved himself a zealous anti-reformer in response to the Dundas Riots. Those three days of civil unrest were launched outside the judge's house in George Square in June 1792, sparked by sympathy for the French Revolution and food shortages. After troops restored order, Dundas focused on identifying and prosecuting men he believed to be instigators, most notably Thomas Muir of Huntershill. When the latter was trapped in Paris by the outbreak of war in 1793, he could not return to Edinburgh for his trial, and was declared an outlaw by Dundas, then deported to Australia.