lOO . PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



In liis later years he edited a two volume edition of White's 

 Selborne, and during his researches in the (jri!l)ert White country 

 he became interested in the history of Basing Castle and the story 

 of the siege by Cromwell. This theme he pursued with great 

 zeal, and finally decided to write a book on the subject. Unhappily 

 he died while preparing the first volume, but had he lived to 

 complete his task, it is certain that he would have produced a 

 record of sterling merit, for 1 had the good fortune to know him 

 intimately, and know how exhaustively he had treated his subject. 

 But this was by way of recreation, though his official woric left 

 him but little real leisure. 



Sliarpe always regarded the Collections under his charge with 

 a peculiarly tender affection, and the main purpose of his life was 

 to enrich them. He spared no effort to persxaade the jealous 

 Guardians of the Museum purse to buy collections, and often when 

 his pleadings proved unavailing he would purchase collections 

 with his own money— which he could ill afford to do, but it was 

 anguish unspeakable to him to let a specimen escape that he 

 courted for his beloved collection. He had great powers of per- 

 suasion, and these he exerted to the full when he desired to move 

 some generously inclined traveller to hand over his specimens to 

 the national store-house. The great Hume Collection of Indian 

 birds, and the wonderful Tweeddale and Salvin-Godman collec- 

 tions are among the more remarkable illustrations of his triumphs, 

 for these were given to the Museum largely on Sharpe's account. 

 Mr. Hume, in presenting his magnificent collection of Indian 

 birds and eggs numbering nearly 80,000 specimens, remarked in 

 presenting the Collection to the Nation : " I trust it may not be 

 forgotten that its acquisition by the Museum has been solely due 

 to the fact that Mr. Sharpe was at the head of the Ornithological 

 branch of that Institution."' But this is only one, of many muni- 

 ficent gifts to the Ornithological Department made on Sharpe's 

 recommendation. 



He was President of Section A at the Ornithological Congress 

 held at Budapest in 1891, and again in Paris in 1900, when he 

 was elected President of the Congress which met in London five 

 years later. He was an Honorary LL.D. of Aberdeen, a Fellow 

 of the Linnean and Zoological Societies, a Member of the British 

 Ornithologists' Union, and \vas an Honorary or Foreign Member 

 of all the principal Ornithological Societies in the world. In 

 1891, II.I.M. the Emperor of Austria bestowed on him the Gold 

 Medal for Science. 



His rule as Assistatit Keeper of the Zoological Department \^as 

 mildness itself, for he was of a peculiarly genial temperament. 

 In spite of domestic worries he was always in exuberant spirits, 

 and was a wonderful story-teller. His friends loved to inveigle 

 him into telling yarns of the many eccentric people he had met, 

 or into reciting Bab- ballads, in x^hich feat he Avas peculiarly 

 accomplished ; few, surely, ever succeeded in bringing out the 

 exquisite humour of these lines so well as Sharpe ! But his kindly 



