1K9. TRIBUTES OF LOVE. 495 



your son addressed to me in this room just a week ago, ' It is 

 good for me that I have been afflicted.' " 1 



Another 2 says, "You cannot wish George Wilson back in 

 this world. His soul was well fitted for a better ; whilst his 

 body was not fitted to remain in this world without much con- 

 tinued suffering, borne so unrepiningly for the sake of those he 

 loved. 



" His memory will always remain with us tenderly cherished. 

 His elegant and graceful mind, his genial and happy spirit, 

 made him many friends, but never a single enemy." 



At the next meeting of the Philosophical Institution, before 

 the lecture began, Mr. Smith, the Yice-President, alluded with 

 tenderness to the loss they had sustained : " We can all remem- 

 ber alas ! it is now only in memory that we can recall the 

 pleasure how often he has charmed as well as instructed us 

 here ; how often, in his prelections from this desk, the clear, 

 scientific exposition has been enlivened and adorned by his 

 graceful play of fancy. . . . At the risk of intruding within the 

 domain sacred to private friendship, I would venture to say, 

 that a gentler, nobler, more true-hearted man we have not left 

 among us." 



Looking back on the last few weeks of his life, those more 

 intimate with him began to recall daily visits paid, in that too 

 busy month of November, to a literary Christian friend near 

 death. Though much enfeebled, and with work pressing on 

 him, yet day by day did George Wilson read and pray by his 

 bed, soothing his fears at the approach of the last enemy, and 

 sharing his joyful anticipations of the employments of heaven. 

 Physically he suffered from the exertion of those visits, but they 

 afforded him great delight, and were doubtless an aid to himself 

 in passing through the same dark valley so soon after. 



To the public mind it seemed that the closing words in. an 

 article in the November number of ' Macmillan's Magazine,' on 

 1 Paper, Pen, and Ink,' were a farewell legacy. It will be re- 



1 From Professor Kelland. 



2 Professor Playfair. To several of the Professors, especially to Professors Playfair 

 and Balfour, much gratitude is due for their kindness in making arrangements in re- 

 ference to the Technological Class. 



