picture of him as he appeared about
the latter of these dates, which is so true to the life that no excuse
is needed for introducing it here. He says: "St Andrews and Professor
Mitchell are inseparable. For forty-four years he has taught in the
University: first the Hebrew Tongue; next the History of the Church of
Christ. As a Professor, Dr Mitchell comes into contact with a
comparatively small number of students. The classes in St Mary's are
diminutive--in some ways a source of much gratification to the writer
and others--consequently he is little known by most men here. Of course,
all are familiar with the Figure pacing the town in the bright of the
forenoon; or, arm-in-arm with a youthful Professor, walking as far as
the Swilcan; or, at a Graduation Ceremony, scanning the audience, if
perhaps he may get a glimpse of some old pupil among the crowd of
interested spectators. For many of his students have risen high: and
some of them have a weight of years to bear. But all are not aware that
in the Church History Class-Room English is spoken as she is nowhere
else in St Andrews. The beautifully rounded and perfectly balanced
sentences, and the elegance of the language, will hardly be excelled. To
make the study of Church History what is called popular is one of the
few impossibilities of life, but there is no man living who can invest
the subject with more interest; for Professor Mitchell is thoroughly up
to date with all his facts, and loses no opportunity of visiting the
great German authorities.... To be reproved in class by the Professor is
not to be desired: to be 'spoken to' in his ante-room still less so.
Many men stand in awe of him--I have always thought unnecessarily so."

The Professor continued to take a warm interest in his students after
they had left the Divinity Hall, and had entered on the work of the
ministry; and when attending the General Assembly he could generally
tell how many of its members had passed through one or other of his
classes in St Mary's College. When he retired from the duties of his
Chair in 1894, the occasion was regarded as affording a suitable
opportunity of giving public expression to the esteem in which he was
held by his friends, and to their grateful appreciation of his services
both to the Church and the University; and in 1895, while the General
Assembly was in session, he was presented, in name of a large number of
his former students and other friends, with an illuminated