What I also greatly
admired about him was that all the great adulation he met
with never affected his simple-mindedness; his humility was
remarkable. There was the same absence of conceit or
assumption of any kind which also greatly distinguished his
great cotemporary, our friend Walter Scott; in truth, both
were too far elevated above other men to seek any
adventitious distinction. I wish our country could show more
men like Chalmers to hold up to imitation, or if too exalted
to be imitated, yet still to be proud of; and that they were
fortunate enough to have admirers such as you, capable of
recording their worth in an _eloge_, such as the public has
the satisfaction of receiving at your hands. Again I beg to
thank you for your kind remembrance of me on the present
occasion.--Believe me, my dear Sir, yours very truly,
J.H. FORBES.
Dr. CANDLISH to DEAN RAMSAY.
4 S. Charlotte Street, Tuesday, 6th March.
My dear Sir--I cannot deny myself the pleasure of expressing
to you the deep interest and delight with which I listened to
your discourse last night, so worthy, in every view, of the
subject, the occasion, and the audience. And while I thank
you most sincerely for so cordial and genial a tribute to the
memory of the greatest of modern Scotsmen, I venture to
express my hope that we may be favoured with an earlier and
wider publication of it than the Transactions of the Royal
Society will afford.
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