144 THE REV. J. G. WOOD. 



New Cross (two) ; and then came the usual " recess " 

 during the Christmas holidays, when lectures give 

 place a while to pantomimes, and the general public 

 prefers amusement to instruction. A single lecture, 

 however, was delivered at Warminster, on January 13th, 

 but unfortunately a severe snowstorm was raging, and 

 naturally the audience was a very scanty one. On the 

 20th began a short tour, including lectures at Eotherham, 

 Hull, and Great Grimsby, the latter of which towns is 

 described in the diary as " Queer place, rather of mush- 

 room character ; broken up into small cliques, mostly 

 polemic." A lecture at Upper Norwood followed, and 

 then came a week's visit to Bristol, during which five 

 lectures were given. 



These were delivered under the auspices of the 

 Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 

 and one, to carters only, was of special interest, the 

 subject being " The Horse," and the various mistakes 

 commonly made in the treatment of that animal being 

 carefully explained. Then followed lectures at Ply- 

 mouth (two), Banbury, Birmingham (two), Gloucester 

 (two), Cheltenham, Greenwich, the Birkbeck Institute 

 in London, and Streatham (five), and the season closed 

 with " Bee Life " at Tonbridge, on June 23rd. 



Eighty-three lectures had been delivered in all, 

 including those at the Polytechnic and the Crystal 

 Palace ; the result had always been highly satisfactory ; 

 and in nearly every case an engagement for the follow- 

 ing season was arranged for before my father left the 

 lecture hall. There could be no doubt whatever that 



