172 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Sess. lxxvii. 



How happy could I climb with, thee 

 Ben Vorlich's bold acclivity ; 

 Or Lawers' loftier summit seek, 

 Where colder breezes fan the cheek ; 

 Or fondly botanising stray 

 Along the banks of clear Loch Tay ; 

 Or spend the balmy evening hours 

 In Aberfeldy's birken bovvers : 

 Where, in fragrant green recess, 

 You might hear the glad Moness 

 Leap from rock to rock with glee, 

 Singing in his revelry, 

 Till the very echoes seem 

 Quite enamoured of his theme. 

 Come ! while Flora o'er the land 

 Scatters, with a graceful hand, 

 Beauty, that can joy impart 

 To the sense, and to the heart. 



Ere the voice of music dies 

 In the woods, and sunny skies ; 

 Ere the rosy moments fly 

 To their home, — Eternity ! 

 Haste thee northward once again, 

 Leave behind the southern plain ; 

 And on hill and mountain free 

 Gather health and flowers with me. 



But a fuller and more detailed record exists of the ground 

 he covered and the work he did. He was now married, 

 and when from home, in the summer months of 1841 to 

 1846, he kept his wife fully informed as to his doings. 

 The letters are written from Clova, Killin, Ben Lawers 

 Inn, or the Castleton of Braemar. In them he tells his 

 wife of the progress he is making, how he has collected 

 from 5000 to 6000 plants, but will require at least 10,000 

 for his season's supjjiy. How the wet and cold weather 

 is trying him, and the heavy bill of expenses mounting up ; 

 how terrible the delay is with posts and carriers. How he 

 saw " Boz " and his wife the other day at Lochearnhead ; 

 how Hewett C. Watson and Thomas Edmonston botanised 

 with him among the Clova Mountains. He tells her how 

 he got a lift from Mr Gershom Cumming the engraver, who 

 was on his way to Lochlee, with the object of sketching 

 the landscape for his forthcoming book, "Forfarshire 

 Illustrated"; that the "jar" has got empty, and he has 

 returned it with the carrier. Will she get it filled, at the 

 usual place, and return it in the box with fresh supplies 

 of drying paper and a gingham shirt ; his present one, 



