INTRODUCTION 



ference to a man like Christopher North, who 

 has only to speak to enchain the attention 

 and exalt the spirit of the student. 



Wilson was only thirty-five when he be- 

 came professor. While he lived to be nearly 

 sixty-nine, there is little more to recount of 

 his career. His life continued from this point 

 to follow the channels which had been marked 

 out for him by the trend of his early activi- 

 ties. He resigned his professorship in 1851, 

 and in 1852 he made his last contribution to 

 Blackivood. He died in 1854. 



Stevenson in Virginibus Puerisque com- 

 pares life to the line of march of "an invad- 

 ing army in a barren land; the age we have 

 reached, as the phrase goes, we but hold as 

 an outpost, and still keep open our commu- 

 nications with the extreme rear at the first 

 beginnings of the march. There is our true 

 base; that is not only the beginning, but the 

 perennial spring of our faculties; and Grand- 

 father William can retire upon occasion into 



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