A YEAR OF PREPARATORY WORK. 



CHAPTER III. 



A YEAR OF PREPARATORY WORK. 



" The pleasure and delight of knowledge and learning, it far surpas- 

 seth all other in nature." BACON'S "Advancement of Learning." 



AT the point which our narrative has now reached, George 

 Wilson was nearly twenty years of age. As we have seen, 

 he had completed the course of study necessary for entrance 

 upon the profession he had chosen, although not old enough 

 to obtain the degree of M.D. He had also come fairly 

 under many of the influences which were most powerful in 

 the development of his intellectual and moral life \ and we 

 already see in him more than the germs of much that made 

 him the universal favourite he was in later years. A 

 healthier, happier spirit than he was in those days as- 

 suredly could not be. As being thoroughly appropriate to 

 himself at that time, we once more quote words which he 

 long afterwards wrote of another. " The dew of his youth 

 was still upon him. The corrupting breath of the world had 

 not tainted his freshness, or its cold touch chilled him. His 

 eager eyes looked forth on a rich and boundless future. 

 Young men of genius and tastes like his own had become 

 his attached friends. Seniors of the highest repute welcomed 

 him as a pupil. Libraries and museums of the greatest 

 value were open to him daily. His shortest walks were 



