356 THE LIFE OF JAMES D. FORBES. [CIIAF. 



summer of 1853 permitted him to make a short tour for 

 health's sake on the Continent, and Basle, Zurich, St. 

 Gothard are names that occur in hisjournal. 



During his enforced leisure, when not prevented by 

 illness, he was constantly engaged either in writing a 

 dissertation on physical science for the ' Encyclopaedia 

 Britannica,' or in preparing for the press a work on 

 'Norway and its Glaciers/ In the summer of 1853 he 

 was called from Clifton to Oxford to receive the honorary 

 degree of D.C.L. at the Commemoration at which the late 

 Lord Derby was installed as Chancellor of the University. 

 During these two years and a half of absence from 

 Edinburgh, his health, though on the whole improving 

 underwent several vicissitudes, and there were anxieties 

 besides about the health of Mrs. Forbes and other mem- 

 bers of his family. Allusions to these occur in the letters 

 which follow. 



To E. C. BATTEN, ESQ. 



'CLIFTON, April 23rd, 1852. 



'. . . All this makes me feel that I am in a shaky 

 state, and the completion of my 43rd year at the same 

 time makes me regard things and events as far more transi- 

 tory than they used to appear. At the same time I have 

 a sad deficiency in the power of realizing, and thence 

 taking hold on the unquestionable realities which are 

 unseen. As for ambition, I feel as if I had almost worked 

 out that powerful motive to action. Do you sometimes 

 withdraw your mind from the exertions of business and 

 domestic anxieties to try to realize these things ? 



' . . . I do indeed concur in your regrets, and melan- 

 choly, pleasing recollections of " dear Wilson." His influ- 

 ence as a man of high principle will be long missed in 

 Edinburgh. Ferrier is a candidate for his Chair/ 



To the Same. 



*GRASMERE, August 19th, 1852. 



' . . . Our life passes in a quiet, and not unpleasing 

 uniformity. With the aid of Dr. Davy's library, I 

 find my time anything but heavy on my hands. Our 



