ANN STREET. 201 



tunc to timo. to give evidence to the world, by the admirable vigor 

 and truthful individuality of his portraits, that his eminence is in- 

 creasing with his years. 



Another illustrious name is to be numbered in that coterie of 

 artists. William Allan (who also attained the honor of knighthood 

 and presidentship) was a frequent guest in my father's house. He 

 had not long returned from a residence of some duration in the 

 East. His extended travel and fresh experience of foreign lands, 

 made his society much sought after. He had the advantage of an 

 intimate friendship Avith Sir "Walter Scott, in itself an introduction 

 to intercourse with the best people of the time. Mr. Allan was a 

 man whose mtelligence, power of observation, quaint humor, gentle 

 and agreeable manners, made him welcome to all. Many were the 

 pleasant reunions that took place in those days under Professor 

 Wilson's roof, where might be seen together Lockhart, Hogg, Gait, 

 Sir William Hamilton, his brother, Captain Thomas Hamilton, Sir 

 Adam Ferguson, Sir Henry Raeburn, Mr. Allan, and Watson Gor- 

 don. In such meetings as these, it may easily be imagined how 

 the hours would pass, the conversation and merriment perhaps con- 

 tinuing till sun-rising. 



Wilson had now apparently committed himself to literature as 

 his vocation ; and when he removed to Ann Street there seemed no 

 great probability of his being soon called to any more definite sphere 

 of exertion. His professional prospects were not much to be calcu- 

 lated on, for, though fitted in some respects to achieve distinction 

 at the bar, he appears never to have seriously contemplated that as 

 an object of ambition. His aspirations were in a very different 

 direction. Though his pursuits and acquirements had been of a 

 very general and eclectic sort, he had given early proof of his love 

 and capacity for philosophic studies. He had not, it is true, made 

 philosophy his special pursuit, like his illustrious friend Sir William 

 Hamilton, for poetry and literature divided his allegiance. But the 

 science of mind, and more particularly Moral Philosophy, had for 

 him at all times high attraction. Human nature had been in fact 

 his study par excellence, and when the prospect opened to him of 

 being able to cultivate that study, not merely as a field of analytical 

 skill, but as a means of practically influencing the minds of others 

 with all the authority of academic position, he eagerly grasped :it 

 it as an object worthy of his highest ambition. That prize was not 



