Edinbro
Friday
69 or 70[2]
My Dear Father
I find that after all I shall not need Grant’s Aristotle. It was for Traill & he has got it elsewhere. But please send the catalogue I mentioned and also bid Charlie find in the right hand drawer under the bookcase in his room a cut up Heb. Bible out of which he is to loosen & send to me the book of Genesis.
I have seen the certificates wh. Rainnie has got from the N.C.[3]
From Davidson & McGregor very strong — I should say absurdly strong ones — Davidson’s in particular is not only strong but generous in its character. From Blaikie a good certificate as much as he could possibly say from the little he has seen of me. Smeaton sent a letter which would have been a very good certif. but that he ended by saying that his rule is never to interfere about Prof’s & never to give a certificate. Rainy also disapproves of certif’s but promised to consider the matter.
Tait was called on by Lindsay & will give a certif: & prps get one from Sir W. T. — “You know” he said to L. “I hope he don’t get it for if he do I’ll be in a deuce of a fix”.
I saw Sir W. Thomson today & both he & Tait said something in deprecation of the possibility of my being carried off to Heb.
All well. I had a letter fr. Machenhauer yesterday accompanied by a packet containing a vol: of Students’ Songs.
That I think is all
Your aff. Son
W. R. Smith
P.S. I hope you have not come home from Rayne knocked up. Have you any special want at your present stage in German? Any book I cd send?
[1] CUL ADD 7449 C128 MS
[2] The last day of 1869 was a Friday and “69 or 70” is either a playful quibble on Smith’s part or, more probably, a intentional indication that the letter was being written very late that night.
[3] In all, twenty-two “certificates” were collected by John Rainnie of Alford and printed by the firm of Thomas Constable in early 1870 as a pamphlet entitled Testimonials in favour of William R. Smith, M.A., Assistant Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh and Hebrew Tutor in the New College.