74 REMINISCENCES OF 



his verses on the subject of matrimonial felicity; 

 and it is my belief there was foundation for the 

 tradition. The old man was sensitive on the subject 

 of his age. Dining one day at the hospitable board 

 of Dr. Edward Holmes, he was placed between two 

 ladies, Mrs. William Henry and her sister, Miss 

 Allen, both daughters of Allen, the distinguished 

 mineralogist, of Edinburgh. These ladies resolved 

 to extract from him some admission on the tender 

 point, but in vain. Though never other than courteous, 

 Dalton foiled all their feminine arts and retained his 

 secret. 



During his last illness, when he had only a house- 

 keeper to take care of him, several of us young men 

 undertook to watch in turn by his bedside through 

 the night. On the last occasion when it was my 

 duty to do this, I noticed he looked very pale and 

 restless. Knowing the end could not be far off, 1 

 became alarmed, and hastily mixed some hot brandy 

 and water, which he drank quickly. My anxiety was 

 allayed when I heard a fairly audible voice exclaim, 

 "That's good stuff." 



Dalton's quaint and diminutive figure was a 

 strongly individualised one. Many portraits of him 

 have been published, but in my opinion none are so 

 graphic as one taken by the late Mr. Stephenson,, 

 the well-known engraver, who some years ago sent 

 me a copy of this portrait, along with an account of 

 the circumstances under which it was taken. Mr. 

 Stephenson says : 



