10 Proceedings of Boyal Society of Edinlurgh. [sess. 
Depute-Clerk of Session. For about forty years be remained the 
head of the prominent legal firm of Skene, Edwards, & Garson, and 
was one of the Directors of the Commercial Bank. Although Dr 
Skene enjoyed a high reputation as a lawyer, he is more widely 
known as a historian, archaeologist, and scholar. The first work 
which he published was entitled The Highlanders of Scotland: 
their Origin, History, and Antiquities. This work, which 
appeared in 1837, was awarded the prize of the Highland Society, 
and is considered to show rare critical acumen and ripe Celtic 
scholarship. He edited The Dean of Lismords Booh, and various 
other works relating to the early history of Scotland. In 1876-80 
he produced his magnum opus, entitled Celtic Scotland : a History 
of Ancient Alban. For over forty years he had been collecting 
material for this work, which is recognised as a monument to the 
learning, industry, and ability of its author. In 1865 he received 
from the University of Edinburgh the degree of LL.D., and in 1879 
the degree of D.C.L. from the University of Oxford. On the death 
of Dr John Hill Burton in 1881, Mr Skene was appointed Her 
Majesty’s Historiographer for Scotland. I must advert, however 
briefly, to his labours as a philanthropist. In 1846 the potato crop 
failed in the Highlands, and a Belief Committee was formed, which 
from 1846 to 1850 raised and distributed a sum of about a quarter 
of a million in relief works, such as the making of roads, bridges, 
and piers, by which many districts formerly inaccessible were opened 
up to traffic. Mr Skene was appointed secretary to this committee, 
and devoted the greater part of his time to the work of relief. He 
was admitted a Fellow of this Society in 1859, and died on 29th 
August 1892, at the age of 84. 
Lord Tennyson. — Of Lord Tennyson, an Honorary Fellow, 
whose career and works are so well known, I shall only say that his 
poetry is characterised by stateliness, depth, and power, and his 
versification is lofty, graceful, and sonorous. He is a master of 
English song, whom only Shakespeare and Milton have surpassed. 
He was elected an Honorary Fellow of our Societ}^ in 1864. 
Professor James Thomson, F.B.S., LL.D., who held successively 
the Chairs of Engineering in Queen’s College, Belfast, and in the 
University of Glasgow, was elected a Fellow of this Society in 1875. 
I cannot help adverting to his singular simplicity of character and 
