142 THE MOOES AND THE MOUNTAINS. 



Sutherland tour of 1 833, our friend Mr James Macaulay 

 tells us : — " The two who had greatest similarity and 

 sympathy of pursuits were Mr Wilson and Dr Greville, 

 both keen anglers and entomologists. There were two or 

 three others who combined sport with zoology. In the 

 evenings all used to meet at an appointed rendezvous, 

 and, at the pleasant gathering round the table, James 

 Wilson was the life of the party. He was a great 

 favourite with the young students, to whom he was 

 always ready to give information and advice in those 

 branches of natural history, with which the chief, Pro- 

 fessor Graham, a man of like geniality and disposition, 

 was less familiar. There never was a man in whom 

 humour and good sense, cheerfulness and gravity, were 

 blended in happier proportions." 



The first of the following letters to Mrs Wilson is from 

 Clova, Forfarshire, Aug. 5, 1831. 



" I know, my dear love, that you will be anxious to 

 receive a line or two from your husband, the more espe- 

 cially as that husband was not cpiite in his usual con- 

 dition when he departed most unwillingly from his own 

 beloved roof. I much fear, from what I hear of the state 

 of roads and letter-carriers in this part of the world, that 

 these lines will be longer than I desire of meeting your 

 eyes ; and this consideration is the source of some uneasi- 



