74 The Irish Naturalist. June, 



recalling, at the age of 22, and destined to be the chief 

 scene of his activity for the next forty years, by far the 

 most important period of his long life. In 1S60 he com- 

 pleted his divinity course in Trinity College (winning 

 distinction as a Divinity Prizeman), and received ordination 

 on June 29th. He held for a time the curacy of Sandford 

 Church (1872) and Mulhuddart (1887-1900) ; but it was as 

 headmaster of Rathmines that his name was chiefly familiar 

 to the public. 



In charge of what soon became a large and leading 

 educational establishment (2,905 pupils through his hands, 

 of whom four rose to be Bishops in the Church of Ireland 

 and two became Fellows of Trinity College) in a neigh- 

 bourhood far from unfavourable to bird-life, he not only 

 returned with renewed zest to the study that had fascinated 

 his childhood, but addressed himself wdth all the energy 

 and insistent kindliness of his nature to the task of pressing 

 the delights of that favourite study on the boys attending 

 his school. The day had not arrived when promotion of 

 " Nature Study " was to be advocated as it now is as one 

 of the cardinal requirements of all good teaching. But 

 if the doctrine now commonly accepted on that subject 

 is a sound one few school-masters ever show^ed themselves 

 more thoroughly in advance of their age than did Dr. 

 Benson (he took the LL.D. degree in 1865) among his boys 

 at Elm Park. As far, indeed, as he could he turned the 

 school — in out-of-school hours — into a Field Club, and made 

 it a practice on almost every Saturday to take parties of 

 the boys on bird-rambles into various parts of the country 

 round Dublin — Howth,Lucan, the Phoenix Park, Baltinglass 

 and Blessington being amongst the favourite resorts. 

 Lapse of time only strengthened this feature in the life 

 of the school. A happy marriage in 1863 with Frances 

 Harden brought him a numerous family, and of that 

 family — twelve in number, of whom nine survive — it 

 would appear that onl}^ one (Charlie) inherited much 

 of his father's great enthusiasm for nature. But the com- 

 panionship in taste of the one son proved a strong additional 

 stimulus to that enthusiasm ; while friendships formed 

 with A. G. More, R. J. Ussher, and most of the leading 



