STUDIES AT ST. ANDREWS. 13 



were noted for close surveillance, long tasks, and the 

 hard grit of the instruction given ; the Bible in daily- 

 use, and the Ten Commandments always in command, 

 with Loii£ and Short Catechisms standing as awful 

 monitors in the foreground of puberty. In his thir- 

 teenth year he was sent to the University of St. 

 Andrews, where he speedily attracted notice by his 

 assiduity and forwardness as a scholar. He went 

 through the regular curriculum required for a degree 

 in arts ; and though the " Humanities " partook more 

 of a High School form than a true University, the 

 years of study spent within its walls were viewed by 

 him as exceedingly profitable and formative of 

 character. There was the daily work, the hebdomadal 

 exposition of each lecturer, and other helps to sys- 

 tematic and scholarly pursuits ; and these served as 

 an instructive basis and no less wholesome training to 

 his diligent and ever-appetising mind. To be put in 

 the right groove for acquiring knowledge was, to a 

 lad like John Goodsir, more than half-way to the 

 accomplishment of the task assigned him. Dr. 

 Chalmers was Professor of Moral Philosojmy at this 

 time ; and as the Professor and student had both 

 family and nativity ties, a pleasant relationship 

 existed between them. \n May 1827, when fully 

 thirteen years of age, John had mastered the first 

 twenty propositions of Euclid, and was reading the 

 "Clouds" of Aristophanes in the Greek. He showed 

 a greater aptitude for Latin than Greek or mathe- 

 matics; but as be wis not one-sided, even in his 



