iv.J CHOICE OF A PROFESSION, 1830. 65 



character. I am ever too apt to forget that my youth is 

 the principal cause of the attention and approbation I 

 receive. I shall soon be admitted to the Royal .Society, 

 with the principal members of which I have the happi- 

 ness of being on good terms. Mr. Robison in particular 

 i >een very kind, and in a note written this summer 

 expressed his wish that I should be some time in the 

 Society before an opening occurred in the (Secretariat. 

 But a more remarkable, and to me very surprising, com- 

 munication reached me the other day ; which I confess 

 astonished me much ; and I am afraid lest it should in- 

 fluence too strongly my views and hopes. On Wednes- 

 day last I went with Charles to hear Professor Leslie's 

 first lecture. He sent for me after the class, and after 

 apologizing for not answering my letter, said he was glad 

 to hear I was pursuing my studies, but recommended me 

 not to give up the Bar. He then very explicitly in- 

 formed me that when he proposed going to the East, last 

 summer, he had thought of getting me to officiate for 

 him, but was afraid the public might think me too young. 

 He then broke oft' abruptly. Such a declaration was to 

 me a matter of considerable wonder. That he should 

 have pitched on me, whom he could have no in (crest to 

 serve, was equally flattering and unexpected ; especially 

 as I had never done anything to induce him to make 

 such a declaration, never cringed to his authority or 

 opinion. Ever since Wednesday my imagination has 

 been perpetually building castles in the air upon this 

 declaration of Professor Leslie's/ 



The proposal alluded to in the last sentence brought 

 out into definite relief a prospect which, though he i 

 hardly have named it to himself, had probably been slum- 

 bering in his thoughts for long undefined. Notwith- 

 standing Forbes's high promise and congenial interests, 

 Sir John Leslie does not seem, up to this time, to i. 

 shown him any fav.iii. or invited his confidence. Thai 

 he should now suddenly let drop such a hint n 



6 appeared all the IM..IV marked, from his previous 

 reserve. But whatever thoughts this remark uf the 



