I844-54- INFLUENCE ON PUPILS. 205 



Professor Dick, and other friends, united with the students 

 in manifesting kindly regard and respect. 



The influence George Wilson exercised over those under 

 his care was very great ; indeed, the love with which he 

 inspired those much with him, more resembled that of 

 affectionate relationship than the usual intercourse of 

 teacher and pupil. Deceit, dishonourable conduct, or idle- 

 ness, met with little mercy ; but with faults of ignorance, 

 youthful impetuosity, or thoughtlessness, he had wonderful 

 patience, accompanied by a power of eliciting the better 

 points of character, which seemed at times to transform a 

 youth of whom all were in doubt, into one abounding in 

 rich promise. A pupil says of him, after an interval of ten 

 years, during which there was little intercourse, and that 

 chiefly by letter : " I cannot say more than that Dr. Wilson's 

 life and character have always been an example to me, 

 as a realization, in some degree, of the highest life. My 

 acquaintance with him would in ordinary cases have been 

 but slight, as I was thrown so little into his society, and 

 that at an age when I was hardly capable of valuing him. 

 But there was something in him which I cannot define, 

 which made me feel more than ordinary friendship, real 

 affection for him, boy as I was ; and I think this feeling 

 towards him is what all had who worked under him while 

 I was with him. That something consisted partly in an 

 earnestness and practical goodness which inspired one 

 with respect and admiration, partly his great consideration 

 for others, which gave his inferiors confidence I mean 

 inferiors in intellect, experience, or anything else and a 

 warmth of feeling which drew one to him immediately, 

 and which, so far as I knew him, never cooled. All this 

 falls very far short of my aim. I can only say that I count 

 it a blessing to have known such a man, such an example." 



