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



sidered only in their bitterness, by the hourly enjoyments 

 of domestic happiness. . . . But I would advise you not to 

 expect too much happiness, even from the fulfilment of all 

 your wishes. The moment you have distinguished your- 

 self you become an object of envy and malice ; men whom 

 you believed to be lovers of knowledge you will then find 

 to be lovers only of fame, and haters of all knowledge that 

 has not come from themselves. You will find that a life 

 of science has in it no superiority to any other, unless it 

 is pursued from a higher principle than the mere ambi- 

 tion of notoriety, and that demagogue or a philosopher 

 differ only in the objects of their selfishness. As you will 

 now have experienced how unsatisfying even the pursuit 

 of knowledge is when insulated from higher objects, I 

 hope, if you have not been fortunate enough to begin the 

 study earlier, that you will devote yourself to the most 

 extraordinary of all subjects, one which infinitely sur- 

 passes the mechanism of the heavens or the chemistry of 

 the material world, the revelation of your duty and 

 the destiny of man as contained in the Bible a book 

 which occupied the best hours of the manhood of 

 Newton, of Locke, and of Euler.' 



By March 1830 Forbes's mind was made up. The 

 course on which he had now fixed, with the reasons and 

 views determining him to it, are thus recorded by 

 himself : 



' On the 30th January my uncle, Lord Medwyn, wrote 

 that happy letter which produced all the change in my 

 views from the hopeless slavery of law to the freedom of 

 scientific pursuit, and the approbation of my friends 

 sealed the resolutions which my deliberate choice had so 

 long pointed out. Dr. Brewster alone stands out. The 

 valuable letters of Lord Medwyn, Mr. C. Mackenzie, Sir 

 A. Wood, my brothers John and Charles, John Buchanan, 

 and David Milne, remain in my possession, a convincing 

 body of documents that I have not proceeded in this im- 

 portant matter without due weight of advice ; and while 

 1 have returned thanks to a gracious God for a happy 



