102 
reminded that few even endeavour to attain it, and any of these few 
can ill be missed.” * 
It is no paradox to say that even the defects of the work, such as 
they are, as well as the great merits which make it the best intro- 
duction to the study of Greek ethical philosophy, are connected 
with what was his greatest quality — the largeness and breadth of his 
nature. It was not possible for him to become a pure specialist — 
a mere scholar, or abstract thinker, or man of letters. A complete 
change in his circumstances, which took place shortly after the 
publication of this work, made it clear that he was rather a man of 
great general capacity, fitted to obtain success and eminence in any 
important province of life, than one born with the special bent and 
genius of a scholar or philosopher. During the last twenty-five 
years of his life it was to the sphere of action more than to that of 
thought and research that his energies were directed ; and, however 
great may have been the loss to the University of Oxford, and to 
classical learning, caused by this diversion of his powers, there is 
little doubt that his own capacities were expanded by it, and that 
he was enabled to do more useful work in the world than if he had 
been appointed to the Professorship of Moral Philosophy in Oxford, 
for which he was an unsuccessful candidate in the year 1859. His 
marriage in that year with the daughter of Professor Perrier of St 
Andrews, and the grand- daughter of “ Christopher North,” was the 
immediate cause of his seeking a new career in India, and was 
probably the remote cause of his final connection with the University 
of Edinburgh. He accompanied Sir Charles Trevelyan to Madras, 
and began his career in that Presidency as Inspector of Native 
Schools. Prom Madras he was soon called to the Presidency of 
Bombay, where in rapid succession he filled the posts of Professor 
of History and Political Economy in the Elphinstone College, of 
Principal of that College, of Vice-Chancellor of the University of 
Bombay, of Director of Public Instruction, and of Member of the 
Legislative Council in the Presidency. The best work of his life 
was probably that which he gave to India, during the nine years of 
his active employment there. His name was soon as familiarly 
associated with Bombay as it had been, and still is, with the Ethics 
of Aristotle. An important Government minute of the 3rd October 
* Oxford Magazine, January 21, 1885. 
