One of my autumnal visits to Maer in 1827 was memorable from meeting there Sir J.Mackintosh, who was the best converser I ever listened to.I heard afterwards with a glow of pride that he had said, "There is something in that young man that interests me." This must have been chiefly due to his perceiving that I listened with much interestto everything which he said, for I was as ignorant as a pig about his subjects of history, politics, and moral philosophy.To hear of praise from an eminent person, though no doubt apt or certain to excite vanity, is, I think, good for a young man, as it helps to keep him in the right course.
My visits to Maer during these two or three succeeding years were quite delightful, independently of the autumnal shooting.Life there was perfectly free; the country was very pleasant for walking or riding; and in the evening there was much very agreeable conversation, not so personal as it generally is in large family parties, together with music.In the summer the whole family used often to sit on the steps of the old portico, with the flower-garden in front, and with the steep wooded bank opposite the house reflected in the lake, with here and there a fish rising or a water- bird paddling about.Nothing has left a more vivid picture on my mind than these evenings at Maer.I was also attached to and greatly revered my Uncle Jos; he was silent and reserved, so as to be a rather awful man; but he sometimes talked openly with me.He was the very type of an upright man, with the clearest judgment.I do not believe that any power on earth could have made him swerve an inch from what he considered the right course.I used to apply to him in my mind the well- known ode of Horace, now forgotten by me, in which the words "nec vultus tyranni, etc.," come in.(Justum et tenacem propositi virum Non civium ardor prava jubentium Non vultus instantis tyranni Mente quatit solida.)CAMBRIDGE 1828-1831.