Though of Irish descent he only once visited Ireland. This was during
his summer holidays in 1884, when he travelled round a good part of the
north and west coasts. The only adventure of special interest was his
unintended voyage across the Bay of Donegal, which was nearly attended
with fatal consequences. He and his brother, the editor of this
memoir, started in a small open sailing boat from the harbour of
Killybegs, intending to return within a few minutes; but no sooner had
they got outside the harbour than they were caught in a squall, which
rapidly developed into a gale, and made it impossible to turn the boat
or head it for the shore, owing to the immediate risk of swamping. The
only means of securing momentary safety was to head the boat out into
the Atlantic, but as the nearest land in this direction was the coast
of America, the prospect was far from cheerful. Eventually the boat
was turned a few points further south, in the direction of land which
could not be seen, but which was known to lie about fifteen miles away
on the other side of the Bay of Donegal. After having been nearly
swamped many times, and running with bare poles, owing to the violence
of the gale, the boat arrived at length at Bundoran. As this place was
distant some sixty miles from Killybegs, {5} it seemed wearisome to
return by land, and a return by sea was out of the question.
Accordingly, Forbes and the writer, drenched to the skin and without a
vestige of baggage, started forthwith on a walking tour along the west
coast of Ireland, arriving at Connemara in the course of the following
week. Forbes's dislike of sea voyages in after years may in part be
traced to this experience. During the greater part of the voyage
across Donegal Bay he was helpless from sea-sickness; his companion was
busily occupied in baling out the water to prevent the boat from
sinking.

The letters which Forbes wrote from school to members of his family are
a curious mixture of humour and religion. It was his keen sense of
humour which preserved him from becoming morbid. It was this same
sense of humour which helped to attract to him at the University men on
whom he eventually exercised a strong religious influence, but whom
religious conversation would have inevitably repelled.

In two letters written to one of his sisters from Rossall in 1886, the
following sentences occur. They show that he found time while at
school for a considerable amount of re