xvi MEMOIR OF WILLIAM YARRELL. 



vation and clear and graphic description which charac- 

 terize the writings of the latter." 



A third friend (Mr. Lovell Reeve) mentions the follow- 

 ing traits of character : " Notwithstanding his retired 

 manners, Mr. Yarrell was a frequent diner-out, and a 

 jovial companion at table. He sang a capital song, and 

 was a constant attendant at the theatre, generally se- 

 lecting, with the gusto of a dilettante, the front row of 

 the pit. In the days of the elder Mathews, he would 

 manage to get the songs of the great mimic, in spite 

 of the rapidity of their utterance, by taking down the 

 alternate lines one night, and filling in the others on 

 the next. A song of Dibdin's we heard him sing only 

 recently, with admirable spirit and pathos. He seldom 

 missed the Linnean Club dinners and country ex- 

 cursions, and was at all times the liveliest of the 

 party." 



By the methodical distribution of his time Mr. 

 Yarrell was enabled, without neglecting his business 

 concerns, to assist in the management of the scientific 

 societies of which he was a member, and to carry on his 

 zoological inquiries and publications. His enjoyment 

 of social life was combined with temperance ; and being 

 blessed with a sound constitution he possessed con- 

 tinuous good health up to the year 1853, when some 

 premonitory symptoms of indisposition began to appear, 

 without, however, affecting the activity of his intellect 

 or the cheerfulness of his manners. On the 3rd of 

 August, 1856, as he was returning from St. James's 

 Church, which for some years he had constantly at- 

 tended, a slight giddiness seized him, his steps became 

 uncertain, and he felt for a moment unable to proceed. 

 After a short rest he reached home without assistance. 

 This attack proved to be a slight paralysis, from which 



