of Edinburgh, Session 1878 - 79 . 
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that were gathered round — on that occasion, I say, who could have 
expected that his end was so near 1 He seemed to exhibit vital 
force such as might carry him through many a year more upon this 
earth. 
Perhaps, had he listened to the first premonitions of disease, 
had he recognised the necessity of repose and inaction, this might 
have been the case. But he was of too ardent a nature to “ husband 
out life’s taper to the close,” and amidst the regrets and lamentations 
which have now been called forth, may we not say that there was 
some consolation in that last public scene ? May we not almost 
say that he was felix opportunitate mortis ? He died, like a 
victorious warrior, with the affectionate cheers of the University 
which he had loved so well still ringing in his ears. He sank 
surrounded by the hues of a refulgent and happy sunset after a long 
bright summer day. 
I shall only venture, gentlemen, to offer a few words of personal 
recollection of our friend whom we have lost. 
His kindly presence seems to belong to this room, as it does also 
to the University, and to the very streets of Edinburgh. His 
sympathetic nature led him always to identify himself with the 
human interests among which he found himself thrown. As 
professor of mathematics for forty-one years, he was not only one of 
the best and most highly appreciated teachers that the University 
of Edinburgh ever had, but also one of its most loyal members and 
devoted champions. In University matters he had that true insight 
which is begotten by sympathy ; so that though he was an English- 
man, born and bred in an English parsonage, and educated at 
Cambridge till he was thirty years old, he is acknowledged to have 
understood the Scotch Universities — better almost than any one 
else. In his addresses and his conversation he loved to dwell more 
on the merits than on the imperfections of the Universities of this 
country, and he earnestly deprecated any reforms which should 
destroy the essential character of those Universities. He had, in the 
best sense, a thoroughly academic mind. Indeed, he was the type 
and model of an academic figure. Of genuine piety ; with deep 
learning in his own subject ; with a modest, seemly, and dignified 
exterior ; he was full of bright pleasantry and the sweet amenities 
of life. His interests were not confined to the Universities ; he 
