50 MEMOIR OF JOHN WILSON. 



son now living who could give so many details at the end of half a 

 century." 



"I became acquainted with the late Professor Wilson at Magda- 

 len College, Oxford, about the year 1807 or 1808. He had already 

 graduated, taken even (as I best recollect) his Master's degree, 

 when I entered that College as a gentleman-commoner. His per- 

 sonal appearance was very remarkable ; he was a powerfully built 

 man, of great muscular strength, about five feet ten inches high, a 

 very broad chest, wearing a great profusion of hair and enormous 

 whiskers, which in those days were very unusually seen, particu- 

 larly in the University. He was considered the strongest, most 

 athletic, and most active man of those days at Oxford ; and certainly 

 created more interest among the gownsmen than any of his contem- 

 poraries, having already greatly distinguished himself in the schools, 

 and as a poet. 



" The difference of our standing in the College, as well as of our 

 ages and pursuits, did not allow of our forming any close intimacy, 

 and we seldom met but in our common room, to which the gentle- 

 men-commoners retired from the dining-hall for wine and dessert, 

 to spend the evening, and to sup, etc. 



" I am not able to say who were Wilson's intimates in the Uni- 

 versity; he certainly had none in the College. I rather think he 

 was much with Mr. Gaisford, the celebrated Grecian. I think of 

 our men, Mr. Edward Synge, of the county of Clare, saw the most 

 of him. The fact is we were all pigmies, both physically and men- 

 tally, to him, and therefore unsuited to general companionship. It 

 was therefore in the conviviality of our common room, to which 

 Wilson so much contributed, and which he so thoroughly himself 

 enjoyed, that we had the opportunity of appreciating this (even 

 then) extraordinarily gifted man, who combined the simplicity of 

 a child with the learning of a sage. He was sometimes, but 

 rarely, silent, abstracted for a time, which I attributed to his 

 mind being then occupied with composition. He never seemed 

 unhappy. 



"It was the habit and fashion of those days to drink what would 

 now be considered freely ; the observance was not neglected at 

 Maudlin, though never carried to excess. Wilson's great conversa- 

 tional powers were drawn out during these social hours. He de- 

 lighted in discussions, and would often advance paradoxes, even in 



