THE PROFESSOR AND HIS CLASS. 225 



turn of mail or coach, Yince's ' Refutation of Atheism,' you will 

 greatly oblige me. It is not in Edinburgh. Unless, however, you 

 can send it immediately, it will be useless to me. 



"I have no time to write. We have ten days of vacation, and 

 I resume my lectures on January 2d. I have delivered thirty lec- 

 tures, and am now advancing to the moral division of my course. 

 As far as I can learn, my friends highly applaud, and my worst 

 foes are dumb or sulky. The public, I believe, are satisfied. I 

 need not say that my labor is intense. Direct to me at No. 53 

 Queen street, where I send for my letters every day ; and if you 

 have time, tell me how you are, and what doing. Yours very truly, 



" John Wilson." 



CHAPTER X. 



THE PROFESSOR AND HIS CLASS. 



It was no temporary enthusiasm that glorified the name of " the 

 Professor" among his students, and still keeps his memory green 

 in hearts that have long ago outlived the romantic ideals of youth. 

 One of the most pleasing results of my labor has been to come 

 upon traces everywhere of the love and admiration with which my 

 father is remembered by those who attended his class. That re- 

 membrance is associated in some instances with sentiments of the 

 most unbounded gratitude for help and counsel given in the most 

 critical times of a young man's life. How much service of this sort 

 was rendered during an academical connection of thirty years, may 

 be estimated as something more to be thought of than the proudest 

 literary fame. So, I doubt not, my father felt, though on that sub- 

 ject, or on any claims he had earned for individual gratitude, he 

 was never heard to speak. Of his merits as a teacher of moral 

 philosophy I am not speaking, and cannot pretend to give any 

 critical estimate. I leave that to more competent hands. What I 

 speak of is his relation to his students beyond the formal business 

 of the class ; for it is that, I think, that constitutes, as much as the 

 quality of the lectures delivered, the difference between one teacher 



