PREFACE. 



I have with much misgiving taken upon myself the duty of 

 writing a Memoir of Professor Wilson, believing that my 

 father's life was worthy of being recorded, and that it would 

 bear to be truthfully told. I was well aware of the great diffi- 

 culties attending its performance, and they proved not less than I 

 anticipated ; and I knew that I rendered myself liable to the 

 charge of presumption in undertaking a task declined by abler 

 hands. But I could not give up my persuasion that an imperfect 

 picture of such a man was better than none at all, and in that 

 conviction I have done what I could. 



The many-sided character of the man I have not attempted 

 to unfold ; nor have I presumed to give a critical estimate of 

 his works — they must speak for themselves. Now and then, 

 in the course of the narrative, where letters are introduced re- 

 ferring to literary subjects, I have made a few observations on 

 his writings ; but in no other way, with the exception of those 

 chapters devoted to Blackwood's Magazine and the Moral 

 Philosophy chair, have I departed from my original intention 

 of giving a simple domestic memoir. If I have in any way 

 done justice to my father's memory in this respect, I am re- 

 warded. 



