1906-7. TRANSACTIONS. 119 



literary work, in which he took part, was in behalf of the red- 

 gowned students of St. Andrews to whom he was so devoted and 

 for whom they in turn felt no ordinary affection. He was co- 

 editor with Professor Lewis Campbell of a charming academic 

 publication, issued in connection with some college celebration, 

 and died while the booklet was passing through the press. I 

 quote, from the preface, by Professor Campbell, a few words of 

 touching and eloquent testimony to the personal worth and 

 charm of Professor Baynes as a man, a Professor, and the students' 

 hero: — " Our little 'toy-book'* required only the completing touch 

 of my co-editor, when he was suddenly taken away from this and 

 from weightier cares. He ever followed the things that make 

 for peace — and he is now at rest. His eulogy will be said and 

 written elsewhere; here one thing shall have special record. He 

 was the idol of the students, and they never had a truer, worthier 

 friend. Of late, with a sort of prescience, they had singled him 

 out for their applause. Wherever he went, he was the universal 

 favourite of old and young. Urbanity, hon-homie, human kind- 

 ness, unfailing cheerfulness, faithful comradeship, inalienable 

 affection — many such terms rise up in thinking of him. But on 

 reflection they are all summed up in Goodness. He was one of 

 the best men whom many of us have known. " John Skelton, the 

 well-known Edinburgh writer (more widely recognizable perhaps 

 under his pseudonym of 'Shirley') echoes the same high estimate 

 when he says: "Of all the men I have known, Thomas Spencer 

 Baynes was (I am tempted to use a word frequently misused) 

 -.he most saintly. I knew him intimately for nearly forty years 



and I can say with confidence that his friendship 



vas one of those 'mercies' for which I am most grateful; and for 

 vhich I never cease to return thanks. To have known him was 

 lot a liberal education only, it was that, and more. After being 

 with, him a little, one came to comprehend what self-sacrifice and 

 renunciation meant. Not that he was an ascetic; far from it, 

 he had a keen enjoyment of life, and a hearty welcome for whatever 

 tended to sweeten and beautify it; but his greatest happiness, 

 at whatever cost apparent temporary cost to himself, was to serve 

 a friend. In his pure idealism, in his quest after the true and the 

 good, in the absence of all self-seeking, he was the Galahad of our 

 society." He was, "Shirley" adds: — "One of the most scrupul- 

 ous and chivalrous of men. He was never weary in well-doing 



* Alma Mater's Mirror. Constable, Edinburgh, 1887. 



