xu. J LIFE IN ST. ANDREWS. 405 



denuded itself of its original c propriety ' in its own chapel, 

 and made it entirely over to the parishioners of St. Leo- 

 nard's. This belief, which had been growing insensibly, 

 was startled into distinct consciousness, when Principal 

 Forbes challenged the right of the congregation to any- 

 thing more than mere accommodation, and proceeded to 

 readjust the sittings, on the assumption that the chapel 

 belonged of right to the College alone. A controversy 

 between the congregation and the College arose, accom- 

 panied by some not painless collisions. But Forbes was 

 resolute to maintain the rights of his College, which were 

 at last confirmed by a decision of the Court of Session 

 entirely in their favour. 



Such were some of the enterprises in which Forbes 

 engaged for the good of his College and of his Uni- 

 versity. Besides these, he lectured as Principal to the 

 students in the Hall of the College from time to time on 

 subjects which had been long familiar to him, such as 

 ' Glaciers/ ' Climate/ ' The History of Discovery/ These 

 lectures were numerously attended by residents in the 

 town : not so numerously by the students as might have 

 been expected from the eminence of the lecturer and the 

 excellence of the lectures. Young men in their igno- 

 rance often undervalue privileges which in after years 

 they would give much to recall. 



One of the latest labours in which Forbes engaged 

 was an examination and arrangement of all the ancient 

 charters and other documents preserved in the charter 

 chest of the United College. To this his attention was 

 turned by a disputed claim of feudal superiority which 

 the College was called on to defend in court. This 

 led Forbes to plunge deep into the charter chest, in 

 which he found materials of daily growing interest. 

 Gradually he taught himself to decipher and read the 

 'bed characters and strange contractions of the me- 

 <li;i-val documents. Had he lived to complete this work, 

 In \\nuM no doubt have extracted from these a large 

 ,i mount of valuable history and curious antiquarian lore. 

 : t was, he c<ni]>l''t<-<l an inventory of all tin- ('"liege 



