46 MEMOIR OP DR. WALKER. 



Dr. Walker's predecessor; and in addressing his 

 explanation to the Earl, he concluded with an inge- 

 nuous candour, which ought at once to have silenced 

 opposition. 



" I know your lordship has long had and still 

 entertains a high regard for Dr. Walker, whose 

 abilities and learning are universally acknowledged. 

 J know that your lordship has likewise honoured 

 me with marks of attention. You wish both of us 

 to succeed in our different departments, not from 

 personal considerations alone, but because your 

 lordship is of opinion that from an amicable corre- 

 spondence the interests of literature and of the 

 public may be promoted by our mutual labours, 

 which never can interfere. Instead of opposition, 

 I know it to be the intention of your lordship, as 

 well as of the Antiquarian Society, if a friendly 

 under tanding take place, which I shall do every- 

 thing in my power to procure, to communicate the 

 specimens of our museum to Dr. Walker/' 



The Professor's fears were not so easily to be 

 quieted ; next year, when the Society of Antiquaries 

 applied to his majesty for a royal charter, they un- 

 expectedly found themselves involved in the un- 

 seemly quarrel. The Senatus Academicus parti- 

 cipated in their associate's alarm, and presented a 

 memorial to the late Lord Melville, then Lord Ad- 

 Tocate, objecting to the grant, on the ground that 

 such a society would interrupt the communication of 

 many specimens and subjects of natural history 

 which would otherwise be deposited in the museum 



