KINDNESS, AND SYMPATHIES 269 



We leave this chapter with the following delightful 

 letter : — 



" April iT,th, 1895. 



" When I was a small boy, my grandfather. Lord 

 Holland, sent me word from Holland House, that he 

 had a live curiosity to show me. I went off at once 

 and found that one of the gardeners had caught a genuine 

 green lizard (^Lacej'ta viridis), on a wall in the garden. As 

 this is not a British species, it had probably escaped, but 

 it was a lovely animal ; I had never seen one before, and 

 was most bitterly disappointed when my mother declined 

 to let me carry it off in a bandbox. 



" I used to be a great deal at Little Holland House, 

 where my mother's aunt. Miss Fox, lived. There was 

 a delightful garden, full of birds, attached to this 

 charming, old-fashioned cottage, and as my ' Little 

 Aunty,' as we called her, was the personification of 

 kindness and good sense, with a great love of Nature, 

 and (for the date) a good collection of bird books, a stay 

 at Little Holland House was a pure delight to me. 



" I may say much the same of St. Anne's, near 

 Chertsey, which has now come into my hands, and where 

 I well remember seeing Mrs. Fox — widow of Charles 

 James. There I first made the acquaintance, not only 

 of the night-jar, but also of the ' Ingenioso Hidalgo, 

 Don Quijote de la Mancha,' who has been my delight 

 and constant companion ever since, and first inspired me 



