80 REMINISCENCES. |ch. iv. 



zeal as he would have done if he had been obliged to gain 

 his living. 



He had a pet economy in paper, but it was rather a 

 hobby than a real economy. All the blank sheets of letters 

 received were kept in a portfolio to be used in making notes ; 

 it was his respect for paper that made him write so much on 

 the backs of his old MS., and in this way, unfortunately, he 

 destroyed large parts of the original MS. of his books. His 

 feeling about paper extended to waste paper, and he objected, 

 half in fun, to the habit of throwing a spill into the fire 

 after it had been used for lighting a candle. 



He had a great respect for pure business capacity, and 

 often spoke with admiration of a relative who had doubled 

 his fortune. And of himself would often say in fun that 

 what he really ivas proud of was the money he had saved. 

 He also felt satisfaction in the money he made by his books 

 His anxiety to save came in great measure from his fears that 

 his children would not have health enough to earn their 

 own livings, a foreboding which fairly haunted him for 

 many years. And I have a dim recollection of his saying, 

 " Thank God, you'll have bread and cheese," when I was so 

 young that I was inclined to take it literally. 



When letters were finished, about three in the afternoon, 

 he rested in his bedroom, lying on the sofa, smoking a 

 cigarette, and listening to a novel or other book not scien- 

 tific. He only smoked when resting, whereas snuff was a 

 stimulant, and was taken during working hours. He took 

 snuff lor many years of his life, having learnt the habit at 

 Edinburgh as a student. He had a nice silver snuff-box 

 given him by Mrs. Wedgwood, of Maer, which he valued 

 much but he rarely carried it, because it tempted him to 

 take too many pinches. In one of his early letters he speaks 

 of having given up snuff for a month, and describes himself 

 as feeling " most lethargic, stupid, and melancholy." Our 

 former neighbour and clergyman, Mr. Brodie Innes, tells 

 me that at one time my father made a resolve not to take 

 snuff, except away from home, " a most satisfactory arrange- 

 ment for me," he adds, " as I kept a box in my study to 

 which there was access from the garden without summoning 

 servants, and I had more frequently, than might have been 

 otherwise the case, the privilege of a few minutes' conversa- 

 tion with my dear friend." He generally took snuff from a 

 jar on the hall-table, because having to go this distance for 

 a pinch was a slight check ; the clink of the lid of the snuff- 



