110 THE LIFE OF JAMES 1). FORBES. [CHAP. 



he recollected the individuals in question ; nay, the first 

 thing he told me was that he had with his own hands 

 tolled the bell at four in the morning on our poor mother's 

 death. Like most of his trade, he was not of very fine 

 feelings, but he was very communicative, and you may 

 imagine the impression which his little anecdotes, as 

 fresh as if of yesterday, made upon me. I made him 

 take me to the top of the church tower, and show me 

 the house where they lived, and those of the neighbours, 

 about the fate of some of whom I inquired. I made 

 him show me where they sat in church, and I walked 

 from the church to the house by the very path leading 

 also to the Parsonage, which they had often trod. It 

 seemed a sort of hallowed ground. The house has 

 nothing very prepossessing in its exterior, except in plain 

 neatness. I wished I could have had my mother's 

 letters to collate them on the spot. You may recollect 

 the interest I took in them, when you were so good 

 as to send them to me. I copied them with such a 

 species of veneration, that I retained not merely word 

 for word, but page for page and line for line. Of 

 course I felt a peculiar and additional interest in every 

 thing on the spot, considering that I was not visiting 

 these places for the first time, that I had been the 

 almost unconscious inhabitant of this very house ; nor 

 could I help speculating upon what identity subsisted 

 between my then and my present state of existence. 

 The old sexton recollected the baby, and certainly was 

 somewhat moved when I said, 'I am that baby/ I 

 strolled from the church to the house, and from the 

 house to the church, and could hardly tear myself away, 

 which I did too late to avoid an impending thunder- 

 storm. It may not be amiss if I join a sketch of the 

 position, in case, when the next person goes on the same 

 errand, the old sexton should be dead, and other wit- 

 nesses too/ 



In September 1834, the British Association met at 

 Edinburgh. It was in a great measure owing to Forbes' 



