Memoir of Edward Forbes, F.R.S., late Regius Professor of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh / by George Wilson and Archibald Geikie.

Date:
1861
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Memoir of Edward Forbes, F.R.S., late Regius Professor of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh / by George Wilson and Archibald Geikie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    him, or simply to celebrate his admission into the goodly guild of writers of books, or with an eye to the mysteri- ous Pic-Nic which so suddenly appears above the horizon, the taciturn journal does not decide. But that he was, if not elated, at least comforted by the reflection of his literary genius from the pages of the long dimmed and forgotten Mirror, appears from an entry five days later :— “ September 25.—Mr. S.; put three communications in post; one to Mirror, one to the Metropolitan, and one to the Englishmans [.Magazine] ; wrote out ‘ The Ode on Painting.’ ” From the list of compositions referred to in last chapter, it appears that the first writing was “ Paper on Manx Superstitions/’ in Mirror, No. 504, for August 1831, “ The Tulip,” and “ The Last Sigh of the Moors [El ultimo suspiro del Moro),” “ Ballad wrote in imit. of Southey,” are marked in ink as “ sent to Limbird for Mirror,” but they were not, it should seem, inserted, for the statement is scored through. From the same list, it appears that another of his poetical effusions called “ The Moss Bose,” was written in imitation of Shelley’s “ Sensi- tive Plant,” and sent to the Englishman’s Magazine, which however failed, so that the verses never were printed. I do not know what the communication addressed to the Metropolitan was. So the Journal proceeds with tanta- lizing brevity, till, under October 10th, we read—“ Mr. S.; received a letter with home orders.” On the 17th, the only words legible in the brief entry are, “ Packing up and the next page of the Journal is headed “ Journey from London.” Edward Forbes left London on the 18th