24 Proceedings of the Royal Society 
limited to a few friends and to the public libraries, so as to be 
nearly inaccessible to the general reader ; nor is it my duty more 
than to mention the production, in a splendid form, of the history, 
by Mr W. Fraser, of the Stirlings of Keir. Lord Houghton in- 
forms us that at the time of his death Sir William had announced 
the speedy completion of the “ Life of Don Juan of Austria.” 
Mr Stirling received academic honours from nearly every Uni- 
versity in Britain. In particular, he had been elected Lord Rector 
of the University of Edinburgh, and at his death he was Chancellor 
of the University of Glasgow. The rectorial address which he 
delivered to the students in Edinburgh is characteristic of the man. 
It recommends caution in forming an opinion, hesitation in choosing 
a party, whether in politics or in religion, and, above all, sober- 
mindedness. I quote one passage : — “ Let me recommend to your 
notice the rule of Descartes — the first of the code which he com- 
posed for the guidance of his own mind — ‘ Never to receive anything 
for truth which I do not clearly know to be true — that is, carefully 
to avoid haste and prejudice, and to include in my judgment nothing 
which does not present itself so clearly and distinctly to my mind as 
to take away all occasion of doubt.’ If any considerable number of 
men could be induced to walk by this rule, how blessed a calm 
would descend upon many places now filled with noise and confu- 
sion ! how many of our intellectual battle-fields would be left with 
‘ their lances unlifted, their trumpets unblown,’ ready for the 
ploughshare of profitable industry ! how much speech, which can be 
hardly called even silver, would be hushed in a happy and golden 
silence ! ” 
Sir William died of fever at Venice on the 15th January. 
Sir William Gibson-Craig, the eldest son of Sir James Gibson- 
Craig of Riccarton, Bart., was born on the 2d of August 1797. He 
traced his descent to Sir Alexander Gibson, who was President of the 
Court of Session in the reign of James VI., and a daughter of Thomas 
Craig of Reccarton, the celebrated jurist of that time, and author of 
the treatise De Jure Feudali. Having been educated at the Edin- 
burgh High School, and afterwards at a school in Yorkshire, he was 
called to the Scotch bar in 1820; but instead of settling down to a 
forensic career, he spent two years in foreign travel, and on his 
