OF JOHN EDDOWES BOWMAN, ESQ, 57 
larger views of geology supplied a pleasing and 
beneficial variety in the range of his studies and 
observations. In his rides over the country, he 
made himself acquainted with the stratification of 
the rocks, exquisitely enjoying at the same time 
the charms of romantic scenery. His notices of 
these excursions in his Diary breathe a healthful 
spirit of contentment and satisfaction at the good 
of all kinds which he saw spread around him. 
“ How delightful,” he exclaims, “ to live in such 
an age of science and improvements! It gives 
an air of magic to a country with which one was 
previously acquainted, to see it so much changed 
by new roads, bridges and canals, lime and coal 
works, the road often carried over vallies on arti- 
ficial terraces, or through a rock which has been 
cut through to make way for it.”—Nature indeed 
had endowed him with a constitutional aptitude 
for scientific observation ; we never find in him a 
trace of the fastidious querulousness of the mere 
man of taste and letters. Elegant literature held 
a subordinate place in his estimation. At the 
recommendation of a friend, he read some of the 
novels of Sir Walter Scott; but while he admitted 
their merit and evidently felt their beauties, his 
conclusion was—“ after all give me a page of true 
philosophy or science for a volume of these.” 
I 
