38 THE LIFE OF JAMES D. FORBES. [CHAP. 



Professor Wilson on the influence *and advantage of the 

 study of astronomy on the mind, with scientific illus- 

 trations and notes at the end. It is almost finished, and 

 will amount to sixty large quarto pages/ 



The sixty quarto pages must, if the poetic Professor 

 took time to read them, have conveyed to him a mass of 

 useful information, which was probably new to him. At 

 the close of the session James Forbes stood first and 

 obtained the medal in Professor Wilson's class, and the 

 acquaintance thus begun ripened, I believe, into a life- 

 long friendship. At the close of the session he thus 

 records what was probably a reward for his winter's 

 labours and success : 



'May 14th. To-day Papa made me a present of a 

 splendid Iheodolito, just come down from Troughton, with 

 five inches' arcs divided on silver and single minutes. It 

 is a splendid instrument every part, and I hope to put it 

 to some astronomical as well as trigonometrical purposes. 

 Dr. Troughton himself said this theodolite was packed as 

 the best of three, and it was made by the best workman 

 he ever had, who is now dead. It is therefore probably 

 as fine an instrument as ever came from the hands of a 

 maker.' 



The father whose kindness is here recorded was not 

 long to be spared to his family. For some time the 

 health of Sir William Forbes had been declining, so that 

 even friends and acquaintances observed the change. 

 We have seen how Sir Walter Scott amid his own 

 calamity had been struck by seeing it. The end is thus 

 noted in the journal of his son : 



October, 1828, 1-2 P.M. By the grace and power 

 of God Almighty I resolve that the firstfruits of this tre- 

 mendous blow shall be a determination to keep steadily 

 in view, as a tone of mind, the existence of a future 

 state, where my beloved father is now gone a con- 

 sideration which bears in its consequence on every iota 

 of our actions, and of which I presently acknowledge 

 myself wickedly forgetful. I make the resolution under 



