xii.] LIFE IN ST. ANDREWS. 437 



rutive of Principal Forbes' active life at St. Andrews. 

 In the spring of 1867 his health sensibly declined. His 

 old enemy, the cough, got a firm hold of him, which he 

 could not shake off. The last public act he performed 

 at St. Andrews was to preside at the ceremonial of the 

 laying of the foundation stone of the new College Hall, a 

 building which owes its existence entirely to his single 

 exertions. 



A great concourse of people from town and country 

 had assembled to witness the ceremony. What with free- 

 ons, professors, town-councillors, volunteers, bands 

 of music, all marching in procession, and flags flying 

 from windows and housetops, it was a gala-day such as 

 the quiet old city does not often see. In painful con- 

 trast to these festal attempts was the pale, worn look of 

 him who was the chief inspirer of the whole movement. 

 Yet he braced himself for an effort which he was little able 

 to make. After Mr. Whyte Melville, as Grand Master 

 of the Freemasons, had laid the foundation-stone in due 

 form, Principal Forbes delivered over it an elaborate 

 address, detailing the objects of the building they were 

 met to found, the brief history of the institution, and 

 his hopes regarding its future. This was his last public 

 appearance in St. Andrews or elsewhere. 



