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xxxii which he was attacked a few days after the installation of Mr Stirling of Keir as Lord Rector. At the dinner given on that occasion Mr Ferrier had, it was thought, caught a cold, which brought on a dangerous increase of heart-complaint. Though he rallied from this for a time, he never was as he had been before. Some more dangerous symptoms showed themselves in the summer of 1863; and I remember, on going to see him when we returned here in the autumn, that he spoke of his own health, not in a desponding tone, yet in a way that showed he had no hope of recovery.

"How he bore the long painful winter that followed you have heard from others, and yourself, I think, had opportunities of seeing. In the visits which I made to his bedroom from time to time, when I found him sometimes on chair or sofa, sometimes in bed, I never heard one peevish or complaining word escape him, nothing but what was calm and cheerful, though to himself as to others it was evident that the outward man was fast perishing. The last time but one that I saw him was on a Sunday in April; it must have been either on the 17th or 24th. He was sitting up in bed. The conversation fell on serious subjects, on the craving the soul feels for some strength and support out from and above itself, on the certainty that all men feel that need, and on the testimony left by those who have tried it most, that they had found that need met by Him of whose earthly life the Gospel histories bear witness. This,