MEMOIR OF DR. WALKER. 
41 
literary eminence, to attain which they expended 
all those energies which ought to have been ex- 
pended in a nobler cause ; and unhappily considered 
their sacred calling a more secondary object, subor- 
dinate to the other. The Doctor was led aside to 
sacrifice to the idol of the day, and thus involved 
himself in an awful responsibility, and his parish 
for some years in most lamentable destitution. He 
contrived, however, to satisfy both his conscience 
and a majority of the presbytery of Dumfries, 
and struggled through a few unpleasant years, 
till he obtained a presentation to Colinton, among 
a more peaceful people than the mountaineers of 
Moffat. 
Perhaps in his appointment the wreath went to 
the worthy; but, if so, “it was more by chance 
than good guiding,” for there were numerous other 
applicants, and the decision appears to have been 
made rather from regard to political influence than 
professional talent, though fortunately in this case 
they went hand in hand. 
That the university of Edinburgh should have 
maintained its high character for so long a period, 
amid the violent struggles of party politics and 
family partialities which so frequently invaded its 
bowers during these and other perilous times, when 
an interest in the council or a vote at an election 
were deemed superior to any qualifications of a 
candidate, is truly astonishing ; and when we recol- 
lect the long reign of this system, it is amazing 
that all the chairs did not become hereditary, or 
