SCENERY OF EDINBURGH 197 



Such in briefest outline is the succession of mental 

 pictures which modern science enables us to frame 

 out of the landscapes around Edinburgh. They may 

 be taken as illustrations of what may be drawn, and 

 sometimes with even greater fulness and vividness, 

 from any district in these islands. But I cite them 

 especially because of their local interest in connection 

 with the present meeting of the Association, and be- 

 cause the rocks that yield them gave inspiration to 

 those great masters whose claims on our recollection, 

 not least for their explanation of the origin of scenery, 

 I have tried to recount this evening. But I am further 

 impelled to dwell on these scenes from an over- 

 mastering personal feeling to which I trust I may be 

 permitted to give expression. It was these green 

 hills and grey crags that gave me in boyhood the 

 impulse that has furnished the work and joy of my 

 life. To them, amid changes of scene and surround- 

 ings, my heart ever fondly turns, and here I desire 

 gratefully to acknowledge that it is to their influence 

 that I am indebted for any claim I may possess to 

 stand in the proud position in which your choice has 

 placed me. 



