REMINISCENCES. xxxvu 



men to the life of this present world, and to become humble and 

 sincere followers of the crucified Galilean. The same feeling made 

 him turn instinctively, not so much to religious books and to 

 commentaries on the Bible, as to the constant study of God's Word, 

 and to the ceaseless repetition of the beautiful hymns which during 

 the course of two centuries and a half have enriched our English 

 hymnals, and which were dear to him as the simplest and most 

 complete expression of the Christian's deepest emotions. 



It would be a mistake to suppose that Charles Babington's 

 intellectual tastes were exclusively scientific. The fact that he 

 devoted himself at the same time to two branches of study differing 

 so widely as botany and archaeology, would be sufficient proof to 

 the contrary. Indeed, his study of archaeology may be said to 

 have widened his interests until they extended over almost the 

 whole field of human thought and action. He was a great reader, 

 and his reading covered a singularly wide range. In addition to 

 books which dealt with his special lines of study, he devoured books 

 of travel, biographies, histories, and fiction.* During his prolonged 

 retii'ement after his serious illness, all Sir Walter Scott's novels were 

 read through to him, and he delighted in their racy humour, as well 

 as in their inimitable portraiture of every type of human character. 

 But, as was natural, the antiquarian spirit of the great magician 

 had a special attraction for him ; and he profoundly admired the 

 genius Avhich clothed the dead bones of the past, and made them 

 start to life in the crucible of a glowing imagination. 



There are two more traits in his character, upon which I would 

 fain touch in a few words before I close. The first was his deep 

 though undemonstrative devotion to his University and College. 

 No one could have lived more completely in the spirit of the 

 ancient maxim, "Spartam nactus es, banc exorna." It is scarcely 

 an exaggeration to say, that every stone in Cambridge was dear to 

 him. I well remember the eagerness with which, not long before 

 his death, he sent me to inspect the recent excavations at Jesus 

 College. A talk about University and College antiquities had a 

 real fascination for him. 



He watched with eager solicitude the wide and numerous 

 changes in the educational course at the University, and spoke 

 with deep thankfulness of the opportunities which had been given 

 young men within recent years of studying fresh subjects of world- 

 wide interest. Such subjects, he would emphatically add, had in 

 his undergraduate days been almost a sealed book. The affection 

 which the University as a whole called forth in him, was lavished 

 with a peculiar tenderness upon his own College. Everything 

 Johnian had a marked claim upon his sympathy and interest; 

 he was jealous with a noble jealousy, for the honour, the efficiency, 

 and the prosperity of St. John's ; and it may confidently be asserted, 



* This latter only of the highest kind. — Ed. 



