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which they were exposed, though he had hitherto conducted himself with much propriety and success. He possessed a large portion of good sense for his years. He was exceedingly steady and persevering in all his habits; and was ardently set on rising to eminence in some honourable department of life. But he was yet a boy; having only completed his fourteenth year. To many temptations he was now to be exposed, from which he had before been exempted, or the influence of which had been in a degree counteracted. Dangers of a very formidable kind frequently assail an inexperienced youth not only from the associates of his academical pursuits, but from some of those pursuits themselves. But the election had been made; it was therefore necessary to commit him to the care and blessing of God.

I feel pleasure in remembering that, with his father, I accompanied him to St. Andrew's, and thus far assisted in introducing him to that scene of usefulness and, perhaps, in the best sense, I might say, of glory, in which he was destined to act a conspicuous and an important part. Lodgings of the humble kind which are generally occupied by the young men who attend that university, whose circumstances and prospects are not of a superior description, were provided for him. The respective professors on whose lectures he was to attend were spoken to, and he was commended especially to the watchful care of my respected friend, the Rev. William Lothian, minister of the independent congregation, whose

ministerial labours he was to enjoy on the Lord'sday. Of that gentleman's kind and affectionate attentions, John ever spoke with great warmth; and to him he was indebted for much useful instruction, in private as well as in public.

Here I cannot allow the opportunity to pass without bearing my public and decided testimony to the liberal principles on which the universities of my native country are conducted. At these important establishments, no distinction of party is acknowledged. They are open to men of all professions. No subscription is required at entrance, or in any stage of future progress. Their highest honours are attainable by the dissenter as well as by the churchman; and, in the distribution of their rewards, I am not aware that any difference is made in consequence of the candidate not being of the established faith. At St. Andrew's, all the students are required to attend public worship on the Lord's-day at the college church; but a young man has only to signify that he is a dissenter, and that he means to attend regularly at the dissenting chapel or meetinghouse, and his attendance with his fellow-students is at once dispensed with It is due to both parties that I should state, that John Urquhart entered the college of St. Andrew's as the son of dissenting parents; while there, he regularly attended a dissenting meeting, and became a regular member of a dissenting church; he left it with a mind unaffected on the subject of dissent; and throughout his course of study, he received

from all the professors, the most marked and affectionate treatment. Of their kind and honourable conduct he always spoke with the warmest respect and gratitude.

Of this impartiality, he had soon a very substantial proof. Contrary to the wishes of his father, he was determined to offer himself as a candidate for one of the exhibitions or bursaries, as they are termed in Scotland; most of which have been left for the encouragement of young men at the commencement of their college career, with a view to help them to defray the expenses of it. Though the sum is usually small, it has often proved highly beneficial; not merely in aiding those whose resources are rather limited, but in exciting and stimulating the successful candidate to farther exertion. The effect produced in this way on the mind of my young friend, I have no doubt was both considerable and beneficial. But, as happily his own account of his trial and his success remains, I shall allow him to tell the story of this first adventure himself. In a letter to his father, dated St. Andrew's, 7th of November, 1822, he writes as follows:

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The bursaries are at last decided. Tuesday was the day appointed for the competition; we met accordingly, at ten o'clock in the morning, and got a passage to translate from Latin into English, which we gave in at two o'clock. We were then allowed an hour for dinner, and assembled again

at three, when we had another version to turn from English into Latin, which we finished about six o'clock. We were then, without getting out, locked up in a room to wait till we were called in our turn to be examined upon an extempore sentence. I was not called upon till near eleven, when I was dismissed for that night. The professors met yesterday to determine the bursaries, from the exercises that had been performed the day before. There were no less than thirty-three competitors, and, as I knew many of them to be very good scholars from their answers in the public classes, I had given up all hopes of getting one. You may then judge of my very agreeable disappointment, on going last night to know the determination, to hear that I had gained the first bursary. I could not believe it till we who had got bursaries, were called in, and informed of it by the principal. The second bursary was gained by a person of the name of Craig, (I am not sure where he comes from); the third was gained by Laurence Pitcaithly, from Perth; and the fourth,{ by John Stewart, an elderly man, who had also attended the Grammar School at Perth, some time ago.

I began my letter with the decision of the bursaries, and have dwelt on them so long because 1 thought it would be the most agreeable intelligence I could communicate. The whole four bursaries are equal in regard to value, being, each, eight pounds a session, for four years, if the person continues at the college for that time. It

has certainly greatly relieved my mind, as my expenses here will now be comparatively easy. I was very dull, of course, the first two or three days I was here, but since Alexander Duff came, I have been happy enough with my situation. I feel every comfort that I could have at home, excepting the presence of my friends. Mr. Lothian has been unremitting in his kindness to me ever since I came.

I am,

Your very affectionate son."

This letter shows satisfactorily the attainments he must have made, when at the early age of fourteen, he could gain the first bursary among thirty-three competitors, the great body of whom must have been much farther advanced in life than himself. It affords evidence, also, of that spirit of exertion and independence which distinguished him to the last. It was his desire to be as little burdensome to his parents as possible; and every thing which enabled him to diminish that burden he grasped at with avidity. His wants were very easily supplied; and could I, with propriety, communicate the details and evidence of his economy which are now before me, I am sure they would excite no ordinary degree of surprise. Possessed, even at this early period, of a generous and self-denying spirit, he nobly sacrificed every thing which it was possible for him to give up, so that the expense of his c 3

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