The students who most enlivened the university were Charles Townshend and Wilkes, both of whom became notorious in after life, Townshend as a statesman, and Wilkes as Wilkes. On the first Sunday after Carlyle joined the party at Leyden, Gregory took him out for a walk along the Cingle, and introduced him to the English colony. As Wilkes drew near the newcomer asked eagerly about him. His face was so remarkable, not only for its ugliness, but for its self-assurance and interest, that no one could pass him without notice. Gregory’s answer was that ‘he was the son of a London distiller or brewer, who wanted to be a fine gentleman and man of taste, which he could never be, for God and Nature had been against him.’ And famous and popular as he afterwards became, this estimate of him remained true, for he never succeeded in becoming either a gentleman or a man of taste. What a clear insight Gregory had, and what a sharp tongue! He carried things all his own way in Holland, but in Edinburgh it was different; there his rapid way of expressing his thoughts even about the things for which he cared most deeply, was often put down to shallowness and hypocrisy. The conversation among these men was often brilliant, but most of all at their students’ supper parties—these Leyden suppers of red herring, eggs and salad. Gregory’s great subjects were religion, and the equal, if not superior, talents of women as compared with men. Everybody made fun of him, for ‘he could hardly be persuaded to go to church, and there were no women near whom he could have wished to flatter;’ but he would not change his mind. Nicholas Monckly was a great friend of Gregory’s, but more because it brought him into notice than because of any love. He saw that Gregory could be witty, so he used to talk to him in private about subjects of interest, and then bringing the same matter up for discussion at their evening entertainments, would give out his friend’s opinions as if they had been his own. Gregory was much amused with this, and after a few evenings took Carlyle into his confidence, whereupon these two played many pranks upon poor Monckly, leading him out of his depth, or contradicting him. The sport was given up, because the victim was too unconscious of their satire, and when they made their chaff plain, he would come into Gregory’s bedroom, and complain even with tears. Wilkes, who tried too, but with greater success, to be a leader among the students, used to leave Leyden when he felt tired of it, and spend a few days in Utrecht with ‘Immateriality Baxter.’ These two men were really attached to one another, and what an ideal retreat it was to go to the house of that quaint Scotsman, even though he was in exile. King’s College in Aberdeen honoured John Gregory in his absence by sending him the degree of M.D., and thus distinguished, he turned his face again towards home. He, along with Carlyle and Monckly, travelled _via_ Helvoet, Harwich, and London.