cordial was the intercourse, which lasted till her death in 1854, between him and his aunt, Susan Ferrier. It would be superfluous to enlarge upon the warm admiration which he always felt and avowed for his uncle, John Wilson, whose son-in-law he became in 1837, and whose literary remains he was busily engaged in editing during the years 1856, 1857, and 1858. He used to express himself, speaking of Wilson, in some such terms as these—"I find, well as I knew him, that I can hardly even now bring up to myself a real picture of what he was in his brightest moods, far less could I hope to communicate the truth to others who had not known him."
His uncle's house presented many opportunities to Mr Ferrier of mixing in society that included names of high political and literary eminence. From this conversation the seed that fell upon the youthful mind of such a listener would bring forth rich fruit of observation and reflection in after hours. He used to describe a meeting in the summer of 1825, when he saw together at Elleray, Wilson's residence near the Lake of Windermere, Scott, Wordsworth, and Canning, as among the most radiant memories of his life. A darker association was to colour his latest remembrance of the great Novelist, not many years after this date. "He used to refer with emotion to one sad occasion when he came immediately in contact with the author of 'Waverley.' It was on that gloomy voyage when the suffering man was conveyed to Leith from London, on his return from
