OF JOHN EDDOWES BOWMAN, ESQ. 47 
where his father, Mr. Eddowes Bowman, carried 
on the business of a tobacconist. His education 
was ordinary and contracted, such as could be 
obtained in those days from a grammar-school in 
the neighbourhood ; but he very early discovered 
a love of knowledge, and was distinguished, as a 
child, for his powers of reflection and his quick- 
ness of observation. His holidays were chiefly 
spent in reading, and his pocket-money was 
hoarded up for the purchase of books. From his 
father he derived a taste for horticulture and con- 
siderable knowledge of botany. 
On quitting school, he was placed, as a matter 
of course, behind his father’s counter: but the 
employment proved exceedingly distasteful to 
him ; and having urged his father to enlarge the 
manufacturing department, he was entrusted with 
the sole management of it. He afterwards tra- 
velled for orders; but this occupation and the 
society into which it threw him, he found equally 
disagreeable. Amidst these uncongenial engage- 
ments, his desire for mental improvement and his 
habits of observation continued to increase. Suf- 
fering from shortness of sight, his sister still 
remembers the delight which he manifested when 
a boy, on being presented by his father with a 
