A LONG LECTURING TOUR. 167 



the ensuing week a lecture was given in the Winter 

 Gardens. On the 21st the lecturer was at Leek, on the 

 22nd at Hanley, on the 23rd at Leighton Buzzard, on 

 the 24th at Coventry, and on the 25th at Worcester. 

 Then came two days of relaxation, and then on the 

 28th " Jelly-fish " was delivered at Weymouth. Next 

 day a second lecture, this time on " Bee Life " was given 

 to the Gipsy Hill Band of Hope ; and on the 3rd of 

 the following month the first of many lectures was 

 given at Uppingham School, a place which my father 

 always greatly enjoyed visiting, and at which he was 

 especially popular. Three days later " The Whale " 

 was given at Stone, this time with a large drawing of 

 the animal, showing its internal anatomy in a peculiarly 

 striking manner ; and three days later still the ever- 

 popular " Unappreciated Insects " now, however, con- 

 siderably altered and improved was delivered in the 

 Mechanics' Institute at Bolton. 



Nothing of any special importance appears to have 

 occurred during this somewhat extended tour, and my 

 father's notes and ledger-entries are very scanty. At 

 Coventry, however, he seems to have met with a 

 novelty in the form of a feminine hall-keeper, ex- 

 pressively described in his note-book as "a starched 

 widow, who shakes her head and contemplates the 

 zenith." 



On December 12th he was at the London Institution 

 for the third time, on this occasion with " The Hoof of 

 the Horse " for his subject. And he now succeeded in 

 obtaining an extra twenty minutes for his lecture, the 



