448 THE LIFE OF JAMES D. FORUM. 



This Memoir may perhaps be fitly closed by the 

 letters of two friends of Principal Forbes, to whom he 

 had probably opened his heart more than to most. 



From DR. SYMONDS. 



' CLIFTON, October llth, 18G9. 



' . . . When he was writing, nothing was more remark- 

 able than the perfect ease with which he executed his work. 

 His manuscripts nearly always went to the press just as 

 they were first written ; almost without a blot, or an 

 erasure, or a correction. I asked him one day, when I 

 saw his table covered with sheets of the fairest manu- 

 script conceivable, with lines so even and interspaces so 

 regular and orderly, and words so irresistibly legible, I 

 asked him how he had acquired the power of writing off 

 in that singularly finished manner. His answer was that 

 from early studentship he had made it a rule not to put 

 pen to paper till he had mastered his subject, or at all 

 events till he was sure that he had something to say, and 

 that he had a clear notion of what it was that he wished 

 to say. 



' With regard to Principal Forbes' powers of conver- 

 sation, it must be remarked that I only knew him as at 

 best a valetudinarian, so that he was not robust -enough, 

 had he been disposed, to take a leading or animated part 

 in the discussion of a dinner-party. In a tete-d-tete he 

 was most agreeable and instructive. Perhaps nothing 

 was more remarkable than his liberality or tolerance of 

 differences of opinion. One knew that he held very 

 decided views in politics and religion, and that they 

 were of a conservative character, but they never seemed 

 to tincture his mind so as to prejudice his opinion of 

 individuals in private life, or of scientific workers and 

 writers. However little he might have exerted himself 

 in company, he always left an impression of gentle 

 wisdom and urbanity nay, of high-bred courtesy. 

 Indeed, nothing could surpass the gentlemanliness of 

 his manners and deportment. His amiability, together 

 with that quietness of sympathy, and penetration into 



