THE PROFESSOR AND HIS CLASS. 230 



wn /out the aid of the other stimulants which contributed to Bos- 

 weh's glory. Altogether, that class was a scene of enjoyment 

 which remains in my mind entirely distinct from even the plea- 

 santer portion of other work-day college life. 



" The class was a very large one. I have referred to the Professor's 

 peculiar power of preserving discipline, or rather of keeping up good- 

 humor, gentlemanly fellowship, and order, without the necessity of 

 discipline. An instance occurred during the session, when he exer- 

 cised this power in a matter not peculiar to his own class, not indeed 

 showing itself within the class, but general to the students at large, 

 as a portion of the inhabitants of Edinburgh having a common tie. 

 There was a great snow-ball riot in that session. This is a thing pecu- 

 liar to Edinburgh, and not easily made intelligible to those who have 

 not witnessed it. As a stranger it surprised me much. In the north 

 we had our old feuds and animosities, often breaking out in serious 

 violence and mischief. But that a set of people — most of them full- 

 grown — should, without any settled feud, utterly change the whole 

 tenor of their conduct, and break into something like insurrection, 

 merely because snow was on the ground, appeared to be a silliness 

 utterly incomprehensible. This snow-ball affair became so formid- 

 able-looking that a mounted foreign refugee, with his head full of 

 revolutions, galloped through the streets (I forget if he was in any 

 way armed) calling out ' Barricade — shoot !' 



" After it was pretty well over, the Professor made a speech to 

 us on the conclusion of his daily lecture. He did not condemn or 

 even disparage snow-balling ; on the contrary, he expressed glow- 

 ingly his sense of its sometimes irresistible attractions. These he 

 illustrated by what had once occurred to himself and a venerable 

 and illustrious friend ; we thought at the time that he meant Dr. 

 Chalmers. In a spring walk among the hills, and in the middle of 

 a semi-metaphysical discussion, they came upon a snow-wreath. By 

 a sort of simultaneous impulse, borne on the recollection of early 

 days, the discussion stopped, and they fell too to a regular hard 

 bicker. After working away till they were covered with snow, 

 panting with fatigue and glowing red with the exertion, they both 

 stopped, and laughed loud in each other's face; just such a laugh 

 as he must have then expressed, did the Professor force upon his 

 class. Then came his contrast between such a scene and a fracas 

 in the dirty streets, where low-bred ruffians took the opportunity 



