164 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Sess. lxxvii. 



It will thus be evident that Gardiner did not lack 

 encouragement to develop the tastes he was manifesting, 

 and both his father and uncle were ready to help, especially 

 the latter. In one of his early notebooks (1827) he pictures 

 a character which was probably himself at that period : 

 " One much given to study and meditation, which some- 

 times exercises him even in company, so that he appears 

 absent, and is often thought dull and spiritless, and totally 

 deficient of talents for consideration by those who are 

 unacquainted with the cause. Such a one enjoys himself 

 most in such a walk as I had this morning — the mildness 

 of the vernal air, the majestic serenity of the sky, the 

 colouring fields, the first gems of spring bursting into new 

 life, the blue tranquil bosom of the river and the far-ex- 

 tended prospects kindle within his breast those tapers whose 

 flames warm the soul with delight, and diffuse around the 

 noblest ideas of the Mighty Creator." 



By and by, however, the young man overcame his shy- 

 ness and desire for isolation, coming in contact with kindred 

 spirits, who took a like interest with himself in the aspects 

 and things of that world around them which lay outside 

 "the road of toil, with their grave cut across," otherwise 

 their only outlook. These working men, existing as best 

 they could upon the wages of a present day mill-boy, were 

 living the lives of philosophers and thinkers. To note the 

 subjects with which they were familiar, and the style with 

 which they could write about them, reveals a state of plain 

 living and high thinking, which one fears is rare in these 

 more favoured times. It suited Gardiner's taste to write 

 out transcripts of passages and papers he had come across 

 in his reading, and circulate these among his friends. The 

 extent of his industry in this direction is something 

 marvellous. Mr. A. C. Lamb, in the " Bibliography of 

 Dundee Periodical Literature," published in " Scottish Notes 

 and Queries" (vols. iii. and iv.), gives a lengthy list of 

 those various manuscript magazines, from the " Literary 

 Scrap Book or Prose and Poetical Miscellany," issued in 

 1826, to the " Botanical Repository " in 1831, which, after 

 absorbing a separate publication, the "Zoological Repository" 

 in 1832, was carried on as the "Amateur Naturalists' 

 Repository and Journal of Natural History " till November 



