wood's Magazine." Two unexpected tokens of admiration of those verses speedily reached their author,- -one a translation of the poem into French, and the other, a request from the conductor of the Hull Vocal Society, for permission to set a portion of it to music in the form of a

cantata.

The last of George Wilson's publications in this busy year was a pamphlet, called forth by the occurrence of a vacancy in the Chair of Chemistry in the University of Glasgow, by the death of the learned and renowned Dr. Thomas Thomson. Its object was to set forth the needless obstacles which the Scottish University Test Act placed in the way of those who, like himself, could not conscientiously sign the Confession of Faith and the Formula of Obedience. The test had been represented in Parliament as a form which might be "relaxed where a good reason for such relaxation existed." In the University of Edinburgh, indeed, it was usually ignored, but in Glasgow, St. Andrews, and Aberdeen, it was rigorously exacted. On one occasion, however, the reality of its powers was fully proved by the exclusion, in 1847, of a candidate for the Edinburgh Hebrew Chair. The Glasgow Chair of Chemistry being a Crown appointment, Dr. Wilson addresses his remarks to the Secretary for the Home Department.2 A few biographical data are incidentally furnished, while the writer modestly sets forth his claims; the object he had in view, however, was not a selfish one, but rather the ungracious task of standing forth on behalf of all who, like himself, were not members of the Scotch Established

1 Mr. Macdouall, now Professor in Queen's College, Belfast.

2 "The Grievance of the University Tests, as applied to Professors of Physical Science in the Colleges of Scotland: a Letter addressed to the Right Honourable Spencer H. Walpole, Secretary of State for the Home Department." Edinburgh: Sutherland and Knox. 1852.

Church. If the test cannot be wholly abolished, he pleads, at least, for mitigation of its rigour. Happily a few more years brought about its abolition; and whether his pamphlet aided this result or not, it, at all events, served to call forth expression of the estimation in which he was held by the general public, and to show the striking union in him of unflinching boldness in a right cause, with the modest simplicity and gentleness which more usually characterised him. He was by this time recognised as "one of two brothers who rank among the most distinguished savans of Edinburgh. One of the two is the author of the most learned and judicious antiquarian work which has of late years been produced in Scotland. The other is a wellknown chemist, and the contributor, if we mistake not, of most of those articles on scientific subjects in the ‘British Quarterly Review,' which we have read with so much delight." In an article on the "Scottish University Tests and the Glasgow Professorship of Chemistry," the "Spectator" says, "Dr. George Wilson comes forward as one of the most eminent British chemists, one who, though a young man, has already achieved high scientific and literary reputation, and has been for years engaged in teaching his special science, to inform the Secretary for the Home Department, in whose gift the appointment to the Glasgow chair practically rests, that because of these tests he cannot offer himself as a candidate. Here is both hardship positive and hardship comparative; a hardship to be excluded, a double hardship to be excluded when others to whom the same objection applies, find themselves not thereby debarred." 1 The allusion here may be to devices for overcoming the difficulty in the way, mentioned in the pam

1 "Spectator," September 11, 1852.

1844-54.

SIGNING THE CONFESSION OF FAITH.

203

phlet; how a professor-elect declared that he regarded the tests merely as "Articles of Peace ;" another, having signed the bond, went to a bookseller's to discover what it was he had signed; and a third affirmed that the documents he had subscribed contained "the confession of his faith, and a great deal more."

CHAPTER IX.

LIFE IN VARIOUS ASPECTS.

""'Twas a sight

Of wonder to behold the body and soul.
The self-same lineaments, the same
Marks of identity, were there :

Yet, oh, how different! one aspires to heaven,
Pants for its sempiternal heritage,

And, ever changing, ever rising still,

Wantons in endless being.

The other, for a time the unwilling sport
Of circumstance and passion, struggles on;
Fleets through its sad duration rapidly."

QUEEN MAB.

HAVING taken a general view of the results of the years of labour noticed in the preceding chapter, it will be well to retrace our steps, and to note what is otherwise of most interest in the same period. This may be considered the summer of George Wilson's life in it the harvest was ripening which, not long after, showed itself ready for the sickle and the ingathering.

The ardent love with which his students regarded him found expression at the close of the Session 1845-46, in the presentation of a very handsome analytical balance, weighing to the 1000th part of a grain. It was given at a public dinner, at which Professor Goodsir, Dr. Seller,

1844-54.

INFLUENCE ON PUPILS.

205

Professor Dick, and other friends, united with the students in manifesting kindly regard and respect.

The influence George Wilson exercised over those under his care was very great; indeed, the love with which he inspired those much with him, more resembled that of affectionate relationship than the usual intercourse of teacher and pupil. Deceit, dishonourable conduct, or idleness, met with little mercy; but with faults of ignorance, youthful impetuosity, or thoughtlessness, he had wonderful patience, accompanied by a power of eliciting the better points of character, which seemed at times to transform a youth of whom all were in doubt, into one abounding in rich promise. A pupil says of him, after an interval of ten years, during which there was little intercourse, and that chiefly by letter:-"I cannot say more than that Dr. Wilson's life and character have always been an example to me, as a realization, in some degree, of the highest life. My acquaintance with him would in ordinary cases have been but slight, as I was thrown so little into his society, and that at an age when I was hardly capable of valuing him. But there was something in him which I cannot define, which made me feel more than ordinary friendship, real affection for him, boy as I was; and I think this feeling towards him is what all had who worked under him while I was with him. That something consisted partly in an earnestness and practical goodness which inspired one with respect and admiration, partly his great consideration for others, which gave his inferiors confidence-I mean inferiors in intellect, experience, or anything else—and a warmth of feeling which drew one to him immediately, and which, so far as I knew him, never cooled. All this falls very far short of my aim. I can only say that I count it a blessing to have known such a man, such an example."