v.] PROFESSORIAL LIFE. 99 



too high a price in the loss of naturalness. But nothing 

 of this kind was to be seen in Forbes. His nature was 

 too strong and serious to be open to the inroads of 

 affectation. To the last his pronunciation and tone of 

 voice continued to be, what it had always been, unmis- 

 takably that of a refined, but entirely Scottish gentleman. 

 But he had absorbed into his own nature whatever the 

 rules of art had taught him ; and the result was that 

 r and well-articulated utterance in which no syllable 

 was lost, and that impressive and graceful delivery which 

 none who have heard it will forget, and which made him 

 one of the most winning and effective lecturers of his 

 time. 



In the midst of preparation he found time to turn his 

 thoughts to other interests of science than those con- 

 nected with his future class-work The British Associa- 

 tion was to meet in the summer of 1833 at Cambridge, 

 and before this meeting took place it was necessary to 

 fix on a place of meeting for the ensuing year. Dublin 

 was putting in strong claims ; but to Forbes much 

 stronger seemed the claims of Edinburgh, which he 

 urged, not in vain, in the following letters written in the 

 spring of 1833 : 



' MY DEAR SIR THOMAS BRISBANE, 



' . . .It appears to me that it is little short of the 

 duty of the Royal Society to convey to the meeting of 

 the British Association an invitation to make Edinburgh 



place of their next meeting. Since you, as well as 

 Sir D. Brewster and myself, have been both at Oxford 

 and at York, you will not wonder that I feel this strongly. 



:as always been considered that the origin of the 



Soci s in a great measure Scottish, and Sir .D. 



Brewster, Mr. Robison, and yourself have always been 



looked upon as among its founders. Consequently, at 



both the late meetings a very strong feeling has been 



hat Edinburgh should have the honour of an 



l>id it lie cntinly with the Council of the 



A8< , we should naturally wait till an oiler SO 



II L 



