24 MEMOIR OF JOHN WILSON. 



" April 26th. — Got the first prize in the Logic class. 



'•'■May 1st. — Prizes distributed; got three of them." 



After this date there is no more allusion made to study at Col- 

 lege, but enough has been quoted to show how he was disposed 

 towards it. The rest of the summer is spent in various ways 

 amusing to boyhood, while it is evident that the more agreeable 

 pleasure of ladies' society was not wanting to interest him. The 

 lasting effect of love on a boy's mind is, with most, a matter of 

 doubt ; but where there is depth of character, and sincerity as well 

 as strength of feeling, the results are not always to be judged by 

 common experience. How it fared with him in this respect, will 

 be touched upon in another chapter. 



One or two more extracts from the Diary before this year has 

 closed must be eriven. The first is characteristic of his constant 

 energy and movement. Even a simple walk with a friend finds 

 him wearied with any thing like delay : " Walked to Paisley with 

 Andrew Napier ; tried him a race ; ran three miles on the Paisley 

 road for a wager against a chaise, along with Andrew Napier ; beat 

 them bothy Another exploit of a similar nature, at a somewhat 

 later date, is related by a friend who was present on the occa- 

 sion :* — 



" He gained a bet by walking toe and heel three miles out and 

 back (six miles in all) on the road to Renfrew, from the shedding 

 of the roads to Renfrew and Paisley, in two minutes within the 

 hour. I accompanied him on foot (but not under the restriction of 

 toe and heel), and Willy Dunlop on horseback, to see that it was 

 fairly won. Nobody could match your father in the college garden 

 at ' hop, step, and jump.' Macleod (now the Rev. Dr. Norman 

 Macleod, sen.), an active Highlander from Morven, who had also 

 the advantage of being his senior, approached most nearly to 

 him." 



It appears that even in holiday-time he set himself to work. 



'•''June 4th. — Finished my poem on Slavery. 



" 7th. — Began an essay on the Faculty of Imagination. 



"August 11th. — Finished the first volume of Laing's History of 

 Scotland. 



"August 30th. — Made considerable progress in my essay upon 

 Imagination ; finished the second division of my exercise. 



* Mr. Eobert Findlay. 



