On one occasion he believed that he had done so, and skulked behind a hedge and lay down till the scourge of Edinburgh passed by. In 1828 he witnessed his hanging in the Edinburgh prison. Professor Wilson, his father-in-law, it may be recollected, spoke out his mind about the famous Dr. Knox in the _Noctes_ as well as in his classroom, and it was a well-known fact that his favourite Newfoundland dog Brontë was poisoned by the students as an act of retaliation. Murder trials had always a fascination for Ferrier. On one occasion he read aloud to his children De Quincey's essay, 'Murder as a Fine Art,' which so terrified his youngest daughter that she could hardly bring herself to leave her father's library for bed. Somewhat severe to his sons, to his daughters Ferrier was specially kind and indulgent, helping them with their German studies, reading Schiller's plays to them, and when little children telling them old-world fairy tales. A present of Grimm's Tales, brought by her father after a visit to London, was, she tells us, a never-to-be-forgotten joy to the recipient. The charm of the West Park house was spoken of by all the numerous young men permitted to frequent its hospitable board. There was a wonderful concoction known by the name of 'Bishop,' against whose attraction one who suffered by its potency says that novices were warned, more especially in view of a certain sunk fence in the immediate vicinity which had afterwards to be avoided. The jokes that passed at these entertainments, which were never dull, are past and gone,--their piquancy would be gone even could they be reproduced,--but the impression left on the minds of those who shared in them is ineffaceable, and is as vivid now as forty years ago. There was a custom, now almost extinct, of keeping books of so-called 'Confessions,' in which the contributors had the rather formidable task of filling up their likes or dislikes for the entertainment of their owners. In Mrs. Sellar's album Ferrier made several interesting 'confessions'--whether we take them _au grand sérieux_ or only as playful jests with a grain of truth behind. Here are some of the questions and their answers. Question. Answer. Your favourite character in Socrates. history. The character you most dislike. Calvin. Your favourite kind of literature. _The Arabian Nights._ Your favourite author. Hegel. Your favourite occupation and Driving with a handsome amusement. woman. Those you dislike most. Fishing, walking, and dancing. Your favourite topics of Humorous and tender. conversation. Those you dislike most. Statistical and personal. Your ambition. To reach the Truth. Your ideal. Always to pay ready money.