Professor Forbes's Sixth Letter on Glaciers, 231 



they were borne, it would be painful to dwell, his illness ter- 

 minated in death. He had been for a short time aware that 

 the end was at hand, and, with an unclouded mind, he pre- 

 pared himself calmly and humbly for the great change ; re- 

 ceiving and giving comfort and support from the thankful hope 

 that the close of his suffering life here, was to be the beginning 

 of an endless existence of rest and happiness in another world. 

 He retained to the last, when he knew that his own connection 

 with earthly things was soon to -cease, the unselfish interest 

 which he had ever felt in the pursuits and happiness of those 

 he loved. 



A few words may be allowed about a character where rare 

 and sterling qualities were combined. His upright, sincere, 

 and honourable nature* secured to him general respect. By 

 his intimate friends, he was admired for the extent and va- 

 riety of his information, always communicated readily, but 

 without a thought of display, — for his refinement and delicacy 

 of taste and feeling, — for his conversational powers and play- 

 ful wit ; and he was beloved by them for his generous, amiable 

 disposition, his active and disinterested kindness, and steady 

 affection. And in this manner his high-toned character ac- 

 quired a moral influence over his contemporaries and juniors, 

 in a degree remarkable in one so early removed. 



To this brief history, little more is to be added ; for though 

 it is impossible not to indulge in speculations as to all that 

 Mr Gregory might have done in the cause of science and for 

 his own reputation, had his life been prolonged, yet such 

 speculations are necessarily too vague to find a place here ; 

 and even were it not so, it would perhaps be unwise to enter 

 on a subject so full of sources of unavaiHng regret. 



Sixth Letter on Glaciers, Addressed to the Right. Hon. 

 Earl Cathcart. 



(Communicated by Professor Forbes.) 



Rome, Feb. 5. 1844. 

 My Lord, — In a letter which I addressed to you on the 

 29th ult., I gave some account of the few new observations 



