XL] FAILURE OF UEJLTIf. 



work as Principal could be done was just the thing 

 that suited him. His duties out of doors lay mainly in 

 at trading College and University meetings, and in ad- 

 dressing students now and then, at times which he could 

 generally choose for himself. His weak health seldom 

 unfitted him for the duties of the new office he under- 

 took. And the daily, hourly sense of the frail hold he 

 had on earth, only made him feel that he must labour 

 the niniv earnestly while his day lasted. 



Tin- d-ite of Forbes' commission as Principal of the 

 United College is Dcrmiber -2nd, 1859: his induction 

 took place in the Hall of the College oil the 10th. 



He did nut, however, at once, resign his Professorship 

 and mi_ his new position, but continued, with. the 



assistance of Mr. Keith, to carry on his class-work till 

 the close of the session 1859-60. From time to time 

 during the winter, he visited St. Andrews, to attend 

 meetings of the United College and of the University. 



On the 1st of April he sent in his resignation of his 



Professorial chair in Edinburgh, on the 10th delivered 



last lecture to his class, on the 16th received from his 



own University the degree of LL.D. in company with 



Mr. Gladstone, Dean Mansel, Dean Ramsay and other 



d men, and on the 25th delivered an add 

 be irra duates of arts, in which he bade farewell to 

 that University which his own labours had so greatly 

 benefited and adorned. 



The attempt, even if I could make it, to sum up what 



these labours amounted to, and what wen- their results, 



appily not re.juind. Some letters from those who 



d under Forbes, at ditl'eivnt dates in his Profes- 



ireer, will convey their impressions of his charac- 



as a teacher, and will fitly close this portion of 



ark 



"iioin.-m U^h'Tii, now Sheriff' of Argyllshire, 

 writes thus to .Mrs. Forbes: 



August 24M, 1869. 



"llrctim,^ ,,f the Natural Philosophy < 

 uid 1 B36-7 ai b, and ann'iio- the 



