[3] Arnot quoted from manuscript sources in Edinburgh City Archives and the National Records of Scotland including a household book of James IV and the accounts of Robert Jousie.
He became prematurely aged from asthma, and his irritability, caustic language, and a reluctance to accept cases where the potential customer in his opinion was in the wrong,[6] hindered his success as an advocate.
But, although scarce any attention has been paid to the state of criminal jurisprudence, by revising the penal statutes; yet, with the increasing mildness of manners, the officers of the law have declined to raise prosecutions for inflicting those rigorous punishments.
However, he was later a regular participant in church activities, and his contributions to the Society were recognised by the Edinburgh magistrates, who gave him the freedom of the city.
[6] Arnot was a favourite subject with John Kay, the Edinburgh caricaturist, who took full advantage of the extreme slimness of his figure.