entirely-as in my opinion they should have been-of all management and power in University affairs."

Although lamenting this blot, and one or two other defects in the Bill, which was carried by Lord Derby's Government in 1858, Dr. Lee hailed it as on the whole highly satisfactory; and regarded it as the beginning of a new and fruitful era in the honourable history of the Scottish Universities.

During the winter of 1857-8 his diary has few entries. He records his friend Dr. Barclay's appointment to the Principalship of Glasgow University in December;* and his only son George's departure to Croydon, preparatory to going to India in January. "Into thy hands, O God of my fathers," he writes, "I commit my dearly beloved son. Keep him by Thy mighty power, and save him for Thy mercy's sake, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

"March 16.-"Went like a fool last night to the Royal Society, where very dry food was provided. Lost my time and caught some cold.

“March 27.—“To-day a painful meeting at the Senatus. Several members whose votes I expected,† forgot their promises. All men are liars,' as David said in his haste, and I say at leisure. An awful row also between B. and S. What a world this is!"

*In reference to Dr. Barclay's appointment, he writes to Mr. Combe on 8th December-" Whatever I can do I have done, or am doing, to obtain the appointment of Dr. Barclay. Our friend Sir James Clark is taking an active interest in the matter, and it has occurred to me that you might encourage him by mentioning in the first letter you write him the kind of person Dr. Barclay is. As to his liberality, honesty, fearlessness, consistency, and all that, you need no information; as to his scholarship and fitness for the Professorship of Biblical Criticism, proposed to be combined with the Principal's office, I can give you the most solemn assurance. In these respects he is immeasurably superior to any one whom I have heard named as a candidate. Having deserved as he has, and being thus qualified, I cannot comprehend how any government which desires to promote the intellectual, and social, and religious interests of the people, can ever think of setting Dr. Barclay aside."

The University returns a member to the General Assembly.

And now begin such sombre records as had hitherto never cast their gloom upon his pages; records of which henceforth there were to be but too many, often filling the annals of his life, like the prophet's roll, with lamentation, mourning, and woe.

"Sunday, 18th April, 1858.-My dear friend, Miss Napier, died this morning. I saw her last night, when, though spent and weak, she was in full possession of her mental faculties, and showed the same wonderful love to me, which she has shown ever since I knew her. She was fully sensible of her condition; and well prepared to leave this world, if genuine, and ardent, and unwearied, goodness can prepare any one for that solemn event. Of all the friends I have had in this world, outside of my own family, she has been the most ardent, constant, and endeared. We quickly discovered a strong affinity, which has bound us together with ties that ever strengthened: till at the end of fourteen years we could not have loved each other more, had she been actually my mother, as she was accustomed to call herself.

"I feel it is a high privilege to have known such a character, and a singular honour and felicity to have enjoyed so much of her affection; for a friendlier, a purer, nobler, more unselfish, or more generous character, no one has seen. A heart so large that she sympathised with every one: no one, within the range of her knowledge, had a joy or a sorrow, but it was hers also; and her hand was as open as her heart was tender. Without a tinge of vanity, malignity, or selfishness, she exhibited the best traits of the Christian character, with an abhorrence of cant and pharisaism. Such a spirit was indeed fit for the kingdom of God; and going over the beatitudes, one by one, I believe she enjoyed the blessing of them all. What a blank does her departure make, that old woman of eighty-two years of age! How many, when they hear of her death, will feel that a friend is gone whose place can never be supplied in this world! May she have a joyful Resurrection, with all the Saints who sleep in Jesus!

Another friend, of whom I have seen a good deal, of late years, died yesterday, Lord Dunfermline:* a man of strong * First Baron Dunfermline, formerly Speaker of the House of Commons.

faculties, an acute, vigorous, and comprehensive understanding; and withal, honest, consistent, and ardent in his love of liberty.

"He said to me some time ago, and it appeared to be more than a passing thought with him. 'We are still living among the dregs of oligarchy.' In Lord Dunfermline I have lost a sincere and steady friend."

"23rd. To day laid in the grave the mortal remains of my ever dear friend. She lies beside her father, her mother, and her brother, in the West Kirk grave-yard."

"July 26th.-Our beloved son, George, left us this evening on his way to India. Another sad trial; but we must bear it with what patience and resolution we may! May God Almighty and most merciful protect and save him."

August 3rd, 12 P.M.-Our darling Janie, now more dear. than ever, and more lovely and attractive, is sinking rapidly; and our hearts are torn with grief and pity. My heart by turns is submissive and rebellious; sometimes I believe, sometimes doubt, all things.

"O my God! I will hope in Thee for my child and myself; yea, and for all Thy children, for we have all one Father."

"August 17th.-Yesterday arrived the intelligence that my steady and ardent friend, Mr. George Combe, died on Sunday, 15th, at Moor Park.

"It would seem as if all my friends would die together. Mr. Buchanan, Miss Napier, Lord Dunfermline, Mr. Combe, all in one summer; to be followed by my dear, dear Janie! What a crash! But they had all reached the natural goal of human life. My Janie alone is a flower untimely blasted!

"Dear Combe! I knew him as an affectionate and persevering friend, as well as a philanthropist and man of science,— in which character all the world knew him. Probably, he was the most famous man in Scotland at the period of his death; more famous, indeed, abroad than even at home. One of the blessings of death, according to Bacon, is that it diminisheth envy, and openeth the gate to good fame. This will be exemplified in Mr. Combe. He will now, by all the world, be recognised as a great man.

"It is too soon to appreciate his exact position as a thinker, or measure the effect which he produced upon his age, and the

VOL. I.

Y

character of that effect. His was a mind which did not so much originate new trains of thought, as appropriate ideas which others had originated, yet with such completeness that they became truly his own, and with such force that they acquired from him both an original form, and an intensity and power they wanted before,-so that he was as truly identified with them as if he had been their parent. He loved and

cherished his foster children."

"August 19th, 1858.-This evening, at 9.30, our dear Janie ceased from her sorrows, and was delivered from all her pains. I feel as if I had never before known grief. The same morning she took leave of us with words and looks that can never be forgotten by those who witnessed them. Her hope was that God would permit her to be a ministering spirit to comfort her parents, and to console her brother in his distant pilgrimage. Her beautiful countenance grew more and more beautiful as her strength decayed; and to the last her words bore the stamp of that original, witty, powerful, and beautiful mind which distinguished her even from a child. She lived in an atmosphere of beauty; she found it in everything, or put it there. She neither did nor said anything in a common-place way; all was fresh, original, picturesque, and joyous. A brighter spirit never lived upon the earth, or left it, than Jane Ann Lee. May I be her companion in that world where God is the Common Parent, and all happy spirits are alike his children; and having this hope, let me purify myself as Christ is pure. Her hope was that we might be soon a family in heaven! I console myself with the thought that she is now with my dear Miss Napier, who loved her with a peculiar affection, and to whom heaven itself will be made more happy by her presence.

"In thy good time, O Lord, grant that we may all of us inhabit those mansions which Christ, thy Son, has prepared for them that follow Him."

Tuesday, August 24th.-To-day I laid the head of my beloved child in the dust; and now only I feel that the separation is complete. But perhaps it is not so. May she not be, as she wished, a ministering spirit, sent forth to console and aid us poor mortals, still encumbered with the flesh, and sighing for the adoption, even the redemption, of our bodies.

sweet thought, as all her thoughts were sweet and beautiful like herself."

This letter to Mr. Paisley refers to the same sad theme :

"MY DEAR PAISLEY,

"BENRHYDDING, 10th September, 1858.

"I should have written you, as I intended, long ago. We have lost, as you know, our Janie, an affliction which no one can appreciate but those who have experienced the like. . . . This is a charming country, and Benrhydding is a charming place. I had no expectation of finding anything so delightful and beautiful in the centre of Yorkshire. It appears to me the more delightful after my long confinement to Edinburgh, where I have been all summer. This Death is an awful fact which we can never feel in its terribleness till it tears from us some one who is like our own souls. Nor is it easy, at least for me, to appropriate those consolations which are provided for us in the Gospel; nor do I think that state of mind is uncommon. On the contrary, I know it is very general. May God bless you and yours!

"Yours affectionately,

"R. LEE."

And this to Mrs. Combe was written on hearing of her husband's death:

"I do not know what to say to you,-alas! none of us can as yet know, not even yourself, the extent of the loss you have sustained. And yet how many consolations you have even in this irreparable bereavement !

"The news will strike many to the heart as it has done me, among whom admiration of your late husband's genius is almost lost sight of in the thought of his affectionate heart, high principle, steady and warm attachment to his friends, and noble aims and motives.

"Our sad family has been made much sadder by the news of your affliction. May you and I, dear Mrs. Combe, find in our sorrows that consolation which they only can have who trust in God and love Him. Your husband was too noble a creature to