176 



THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



objects of the Forrest to the gloom and confinement of streets 

 and houses ! " . . . 



In his next letter (17 Nov., 1795) Caldwell notes that Wade, 

 with whom he was on terms of intimacy, " last smiimer had 

 the ardour to make a stolen visit to the Giant's Causeway to 

 search for the Scilla verna, having met in a manuscript in an old 

 book that it grew there. He found it in abundance and brought 

 away some roots." 



On April 5, 1796, Caldwell gracefully congratulates Smith on 

 his engagement. It may be noted that the interest of the letters 

 is by no means confined to their botanical portion ; those relating 

 to the Irish political history of the disturbed period of the passing 

 of the Act of Union (both published and unpublished) are worth 

 reading by those interested in such matters. Caldwell appears to 

 have been but a lukewarm supporter of the Act : he wa'ites on 

 25 Dec, 1798: "The project for a Union occasions much 

 agitation here ; the majority are strongly against it, but the 

 country appears totally indifferent as yet, and to take no part . . . 

 ' Better, perhaps, to bear the ills we have, than fly to others that 

 we know not of.'" In an unpublished letter (25 Mar., 1801) 

 he says : " Our faithfull representatives have given a terrifick 

 account of the state of this country in late debates : we on the 

 spot feel no alarm and see nothing but tranquillity." 



The letters following that of April, 1796, contain references to 

 the Garden, but not much of interest. 



On Jan. 6, 1797, Caldwell gives an account of his pro- 

 ceedings during the preceding year. He stayed with Lord 

 Clanbrassil at Tullymore Park (near Newcastle, Co. Down) and 

 notes that "his lordship has naturalized Antirrhinum Cymhalaria: 

 it seems to grow spontaneously on bridges and rocks." He went 

 to Scotland — "to Glasgow, to review early scenes of happiness in 

 college days " — and noted " a profusion of Parnassia, larger and 

 more luxuriant than I had ever seen it in England or Ireland : 

 Camijanula rotundifolia covers the fields, but no Ecliium or 

 Verhascum : Bhodiola rosea is found on one side of Port Patrick, 

 but I took the wrong side and missed it." Attached to the original 

 of this letter (all of which is not printed) is a specimen of 

 Hymenoijliyllum tunhrigense. 



In 1798 Caldwell visited North Wales, leaving Dublin by the 

 Holyhead packet on September 5th. He first visited Conway, 

 " too late for much botany," and then went to Aber, where Hugh 

 Davies (1739-1821) was rector. At the inn, where he was staying, 

 he heard of Davies and wrote to him : "he came directly, and in 

 two hours you would have thought we had been acquainted all 

 our lives — such is the liberality and advantage of science." Davies's 

 " kindness and attention were such " that Caldwell stayed six days 

 at Aber, on each of which he was in Davies's company. "All 

 over that part of Anglesea is the greatest abundance of Lychnis 

 flore nibro, which I remark because scarcely to be found here 

 [Dublin] , though the coasts are opposite, and the soil similar in 

 all appearance. It seems difficult to account for the predilections 



