240 MEMOIE OF JOHN WILSON. 



to get out some bit of petty revenge or of mere wanton cruelty, or 

 of insolence to those whose character and position entitled them to 

 deference ; and so he went on, until there could not be a question 

 that every one in the class who had been concerned in the affair felt 

 ashamed of himself. His practical conclusion was that they should 

 have their bicker, certainly, but — adjourn it from the college quad- 

 rangle and the street to the Pentland hills. 



" We naturally, among ourselves, talked over any little instances 

 illustrative of the remarkable power of making any one whom 

 he had to rebuke or correct feel foolish. For instance, there used 

 to be a set of dusky personages who then stood at the corner .of 

 certain streets, and annoyed the passenger by stepping up right 

 in front of him, like an established acquaintance, and saying, 'Any 

 old clothes ?' It was said that the way in which the Professor on 

 such an occasion turned round on the intruder, and said, ' Yes ; have 

 you any ?' had such an effect, that the word was passed through 

 the tribe, and he never was again addressed by any of its members. 



"I remember a very strong negative testimony to this peculiar 

 power, in the circumstance of his entire freedom from the persecu- 

 tions of two licensed tormentors, who were the terror of all the rest 

 of the professors. They were men of venerable years and weak in- 

 tellect, who had established a sort of prescriptive right to attend 

 such classes as they might honor with their presence. It was not 

 of course their mere presence, but the use to which it was put by 

 tricky students, that made the standing grief of the professors. 

 One of them was called Sir Peter Mmmo, a dirty, ill-looking lout, 

 who had neither wit himself, nor any quality with a sufficient 

 amount of pleasant grotesqueness in it to create wit in others. I 

 believe he was merely an idly-inclined and stupidish man of low 

 condition, who, having once got into practice as a sort of public 

 laughing-stock, saw that the occupation paid better than honest in- 

 dustry, and had cunning enough to keep it up. He must have had 

 a rather hard time of it, however, in some respects, for it was an 

 established practice to get hold of the cards of important person- 

 ages — especially if they were as testy as they were important — and 

 to present them to Sir Peter with a request that he would favor the 

 person indicated with his company at dinner. He always went, 

 pretending simplicity, and using a little caution, if he saw symptoms 

 of strong measures. I suppose he sometimes got a meal that way, 



