EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN 85 



" Edstone," between Stratford-on-Avon and Henley- 

 on-Arden ; and my second brother Erasmus was, 

 as already said, at his estate at Loxton in Somerset- 

 shire. 



I was therefore free, and I eagerly desired a com- 

 plete change ; besides, I had many " wild oats " yet 

 to sow. So I started on travel, this time to Egypt. 

 At Malta I found my old friend Robert Frere, of 

 whom I have already spoken. He was acting 

 medically towards his uncle, Hookham Frere, much 

 as I had been acting towards my own father. 

 Hookham Frere was too unwell to be seen, or I 

 should greatly have valued the privilege of a few 

 words with so accomplished a man, whatever his 

 diplomatic shortcomings may have been. Not the 

 less so because of the amusing parody written jointly 

 by himself and Canning of my grandfather Darwin's 

 Loves of the Plants under the title of Loves of the 

 Triangles, which gave a coup de grace to the turgid 

 poetry that had become a temporary craze in my 

 grandfather's time. 



At Malta I took steamer to Alexandria, and found 

 two Cambridge friends on board, who had been 

 travelling in Greece. They were Montagu Boulton, 

 the third and youngest brother of Matthew Boulton, 

 and Hedworth Barclay, a very distant kinsman of my 

 own and the son of David Barclay of Eastwick Park. 

 We ultimately agreed to join. Boulton had a first- 

 rate courier named Evard, who had also been eroom 

 of the chamber to one of the most fashionable of 

 English families. Barclay had a good Greek cook, 

 Christopher, and I was to contribute a dragoman, 

 which I did. His name was Ali. 



