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



pleasure, and the delightful elasticity of mind and body 

 contrasts strongly with the opposites which almost inevi- 

 tably accompany the pursuit of the other. I feel 

 assured that my recent success will be beneficial to me 

 in a way which, on a superficial view, may not be appa- 

 rent. ... I have now the arduous task of fulfilling 

 expectations before me, which, while it is humbler, is 

 more wholesome than that of creating them. The chief 

 danger of courting praise or gratifying ambition is 

 either when a man is mean enough to wish to have 

 more than his due, or unhappy enough to combine a 

 feverish love of ambition with an adverse fortune which 

 makes his whole life a struggle to obtain his due, and 

 upon which he therefore naturally puts a fancy price. 

 Let a man take once his true level, and it is not likely, 

 other things being equal, that either the prosperous gale 

 or storms of the world's ways will readily overset him. 

 At least this is my view of the subject, and I feel that 

 Providence has put me in a situation less tempting to 

 the sins that most easily beset me, than if it had left me 

 to buffet my way against opposing circumstances.' 



While he was thus girding himself for his work, and 

 cheered by the congratulations of his friends, it must 

 have been felt as not a little painful that there was one 

 of the oldest and most hearty of his friends who could 

 not join in these congratulations. Contests for professor- 

 ships, as for higher posts, sometimes bring with them 

 not painless collisions. But seldom has the irony 

 of destiny been more conspicuous than in the cir- 

 cumstances which pitted James Forbes and Dr. Brewster 

 against each other as rival candidates for Sir John 

 Leslie's chair. It was not in ordinary human nature 

 but that the success of the younger candidate should 

 cause some soreness in the elder. At the height of the 

 canvass, in anticipation of such a result, Forbes had 

 written to his uncle : ' With Sir D. Brewster I am re- 

 solved not to quarrel. With him I believe it is difficult 

 to quarrel, except by one's own fault. I hope and 



