of Edinburgh^ Session 1862 - 63 . 63 
one. His favourite sciences were those which then occupied most of 
my own attention. — geology, meteorology, and general and terrestrial 
physics. He was perfectly at home in the Alps, which I had already 
visited, and to which I was about to return. He was as communi- 
cative as I was desirous to learn ; and having, at that particular 
period, my time very much at my own disposal, as he also had, we 
found many congenial subjects of discourse of which we never tired, 
and innumerable objects for geological rambles in the neighbour- 
hood of Edinburgh, with which, of course, I was familiar, and which 
were intimately associated in his mind with the precious lessons 
which he had drawn from the lips of Playfair and of Hall. In 
addition to this, many of his early friends were also my own. It 
may therefore be believed that, with his naturally amiable and 
communicative disposition, we were not long in becoming fast 
friends. I may say confidently that with few persons have I 
spent more delightful hours at any period of my life, or been re- 
warded by a larger amount of instruction, conveyed with a simplicity 
and grace which were peculiarly his own. M. Necker’s appearance 
at this time was remarkably prepossessing. He was rather short 
than otherwise ; well proportioned and active ; his complexion was 
dark hut ruddy ; his eyes, of a fine blue, beamed with intelligence ; 
his nose was aquiline, and the upper and lower parts of the face 
slightly retreating; the mouth firm but sweet; his gait rapid, 
nervous, and earnest. He spoke English with the utmost fluency, 
but with a foreign accent far from disagreeable. He had a keen 
sense of humour (as may be gathered from Mr Gumming Bruce’s 
early recollections), which never forsook him, and he possessed a 
stock of natural gaiety which flavoured his conversation even long 
after he was subject to those fits of melancholy from which, in later 
life, he suffered so severely. 
He left Edinburgh for London in February 1832, where I also 
passed some time in his society. Later in the same year we met 
at ‘Geneva, where I experienced his hospitality, and had the good 
fortune to be introduced to his excellent mother. The same autumn 
he invited me to join him in a tour through part of Switzerland, 
including the Oberland and Valais. This pleasant tour lasted for 
a fortnight, and showed the resources of m}^ friend in many new 
lights. From the commencement of 1832 until bis death, almost 
