Page:Ferrier Works vol 2 1888 LECTURES IN GREEK PHILOSOPHY.pdf/26

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INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
xix

such relaxation must prove beneficial to his general health. But for him philosophy had deeper charms than for most even of laborious and meditative inquirers. The "difficult air" which surrounds the top of the mountain of speculation, exhausting to common travellers in that high region, was to him as the daily breath of life. Those among his acquaintance for whom such abstruser pursuits had no attraction, could not but feel and acknowledge the largeness of mind and heart which enlivened his social intercourse, which sought for no display, but manifested itself in the readiness with which he entered alike into the common business and recreation of everyday life, and into all general topics of rational interest. The most devoted of all students, he was the last man to whom any one who knew him, or even casually met him, could have thought of applying the description of "pedant." In mixed company, his graceful courtesy, his rich and genial humour, and the fine unstrained benignity which, being heart-deep, inspired his whole manner, secured general admiration and goodwill. There was hardly a social meeting at St Andrews at which his presence, expected or unexpected, would not have been welcomed with genuine gladness; nor could any subject be mooted on which his views, however unobtrusively expressed, would not have been listened to with respectful attention.

His general appearance, and latterly his disinclination to any but the most moderate exercise, sug-