14 
showers were repeated the whole day afterwards. 
What a change from the brilliant light and the 
beautiful objects of the forest, to the gloom and 
confinement of streets and houses ! 
“ The travelling observer of nature,’ Sir James 
remarks, “has, as it were, the enjoyment of a new 
sense in addition to those common to the rest of 
mankind. He can find amusement and instruction, 
where they bemoan themselves as in a wilderness ; 
he can relieve his attention and refresh his spirits 
when wearied by common objects of observation, or 
troubled with disagreeable ones, and is stimulated 
with ardour to undertakings, prolific of pleasure 
in various ways, which the incurious, half-occupied 
mind would not think worth the pains of attempting. 
A still higher advantage is attached to the pursuit 
of natural history in a journey through an en- 
lightened country, as well as in the journey of life 
itself. It is an unerring clue to an intercourse with 
the best minds. It brings those together who are 
connected by a most commendable, disinterested 
and delightful tie; it brings forth the best parts of 
every character.” 
Happy as he was in an excellent mother, he was 
no less so in another maternal character, to whom 
the writer owes an infinite debt of gratitude and 
love. Sir James has often reminded the person who 
records the circumstance, of the pleasure it gave 
him, when, in early life, and then almost a stranger, 
he first paid a visit to that inestimable parent, and 
found the apartment destined for himself, decorated 
by her hand with wreaths of the Calluna and Erica 
