XX Proceedings of Royal Soeiety of Edinlurgh. 
an active supporter. His own contributions to literature were few, 
and apart from occasional speeches in the academic offices he held, 
his published works were limited to two essays in BlackwooPs 
Magazine, one on “ The Present Position of the Church of Scot- 
land,” the other on “Montrose and the Covenanters of 1638;” an 
address to the Juridical Society of Edinburgh on “The Scottish 
Lawyers of the 17th Century;” and an Antiquarian Note on the 
name of the parish of Clencorse, when official ignorance proposed 
to alter it to Glencross. It was the opinion of qualified judges that 
he might have distinguished himself as an historical writer, and in 
particular that he might have written better than any lawyer of his 
time a History of the Law of Scotland, a task to which he incited, 
as yet without result, the members of the Juridical Society.. When 
written, many elucidations of it will be derived from his judgments. 
But he knew best where his strength lay : in practical action rather 
than philosophic speculation, in judicial rather than literary com- 
position. Lord M‘Laren has noted, in the paper already referred 
to, that he set the example of a new and better style of judicial 
expression than had been common in the judgments of the Scottish 
Bench. 
Some other directions of his activity, more of a private or semi- 
private than a public kind, must be omitted from a notice too short 
to convey an adequate conception of his character, but longer than 
the purpose for which it has been written perhaps justifies ; yet it 
cannot be concluded without referring to the circumstances of his 
connection with the Royal Society of Edinburgh, which were those 
of a loyal supporter and steadfast friend, but neither of a contributor 
to nor an auditor of its proceedings. 
On 5th February 1855, when Dean of Faculty, he was elected a 
Fellow of the Society. After the death of Professor Kelland, its 
President, on 7th May 1879, a meeting of the Council was held on 
31st October to designate a successor, when it was stated that there 
was “a strong feeling among many of the Fellows that the next 
President should be a man of letters — the Society having been 
instituted for the promotion of literature as well as science.” The 
name of the Lord Justice-Oeneral was unanimously adopted, and Sir 
Robert Christison and Professor Douglas Maclagan were deputed to 
obtain his consent. In a letter, dated 3rd November 1879, declining 
