COMMITTEER’S ADDRESS. 157 
won the respect and admiration of all who came in contact with 
him. His regular attendance at our Field Meetings, often at 
much personal inconvenience, showed that he took no ordinary 
interest in the well-being of the Club, that he fully appreciated 
the honour that had been conferred on him, and that he was 
emphatically ‘the right man in the right place.” He has in 
this respect, left an example to future Presidents, well worthy of 
imitation, and the following of which, will go far to secure the 
continued prosperity of the Club. 
Had Dr. Johnson lived, we should undoubtedly have had a 
most excellent address from his pen; he was a ready and agreeable 
writer, and had, before his decease, commenced to gather mate- 
rials for the purpose. We must all regret that the pages of our 
“ Transactions” contain so few contributions from one so well 
able to enrich them. In our fourth volume (p. 117) will be found 
a short paper by him on some “ Ancient Remains found in the 
river Wear, at Claxheugh,” and the sketch which he read at our 
last meeting, at Marsden Rock, entitled “ Obituary notices of 
the Toad, said to have been found embedded in the solid rock at 
Bishopwearmouth,” was an excellent specimen of his lighter vein, 
and of the versatility of his powers. We trust that this essay may 
-be found among his papers, and allowed to appear in our pages. 
His public services and character are well summarised in the 
following extract from the Sunderland Herald, of the day. 
“ Before he had passed the dawn of manhood (and he had only 
just completed his 39th year at the time of his death), he had taken 
a prominent place amongst the best educated men of his native 
town, and through life he continued to be an enthusiastic student, 
keeping himself well informed, so far as attention to the duties 
of his profession would allow, of all the advancements in science, 
art, and literature. His was indeed the pen of a ready writer; 
few subjects that came within the ordinary range of comment or 
criticism were beyond the range of his mental powers. In 
humorous narrative and descriptive composition he particularly 
excelled, his most finished production, and one in which both 
these qualities were happily, although somewhat carelessly com- 
bined, being “ A Winter’s Sketches in the Pyrenees and South of 
