102 FIRST JOURNEY IN EUROPE. [1839, 



one in the morning, in an Episcopal chapel (the one 

 to which this family belong) from Mr. Drummond, 

 the text being the latter clause of Hebrews viii. 13 ; 

 a most excellent, faithful, and godly sermon. In the 

 afternoon I occupied a seat Dr. Greville was so kind 

 as to secure for me in the Old Greyfriars (Scotch) 

 Church, which is so crowded that without this precau- 

 tion you can hardly expect to get into the church 

 when Dr. Guthrie preaches. He is the most striking 

 preacher I ever heard. I could not help comparing 

 him with Whitfield. The text was the first clause of 

 Eccles. ii. 11. I dare not attempt to give you any 

 idea of the discourse. I wish you could have heard 

 it. In this church-yard the remains of the early mar- 

 tyrs of Scotland repose, not far from the Grass- 

 market, where they were mostly offered up. I stood 

 upon the very spot to-day where they suffered. We 

 had a terrible wind all last night, which, with the rain, 

 carried off nearly all the snow. The morning was so 

 stormy that I could not fulfill my conditional engage- 

 ment to breakfast with Mr. Nicoll and look at his 

 curiosities. So I repaired to the university at ten ; 

 heard Sir Charles Bell, 1 the professor of surgery, a 

 decent lecturer, but not remarkable. At eleven I 

 heard the celebrated Dr. Chalmers, the professor of 

 divinity. The old man has a heavy, strongly-marked 

 Scotch countenance, which, however, brightens very 

 much when he is engaged in his discourse. His man- 

 ner is rather inelegant and his dialect broad Scotch 

 and peculiar. But the matter is so rich that he 

 carries all before him. Every word is full of thought, 



1 Sir Charles Bell, 1774-1842 ; a very distinguished surgeon ; author 

 of Anatomy of Expression and many celebrated works. He accepted 

 the chair of surgery at Edinburgh, 1836. 



