the centre of a knot of disputants on the Voluntary Church question or
some question of politics. Also it is recorded that, on the day after
a Parliamentary election for the city, he had no voice left, having
shouted it all away the day before in honour of the two successful
Whig candidates.

During this session, as had been previously arranged, he lodged in
Charles Street with his mother's brother, whose eldest son, John
Murray, shared his room. For this cousin, who was about his own age,
he had always the greatest regard, and he was specially grateful
to him for the kindness with which he helped him over many of the
difficulties which, as a raw lad from the country, he experienced
when he first came to live in the city. The friendship between the
cousins remained unbroken--though their paths in life were widely
different--till they died, within a fortnight of each other, nearly
sixty years later.

All through the winter a box travelled with the Cockburnspath carrier
every three or four weeks between Edinburgh and Dunglass, taking with
it on the outward journey clothes to be washed and mended, and on the
return journey always including a store of country provisions--scones,
oatmeal, butter, cheese, bacon, and potatoes. The letters that passed
between the student and his family were also sent in the box, for
as yet there was no penny post, and the postage of a letter between
Dunglass and Edinburgh cost as much as sixpence halfpenny or
sevenpence. Often, too, John would send home some cheap second-hand
books, for he had a general commission to keep his eye on the
bookstalls. Amongst these purchases was sometimes included a Bible,
so that before the end of the winter each member of the family had
a separate Bible to take to church or Sunday school.