228 DAKENT-HULME. [l871. 



delight to the eye. Can they ever be forgotten ? On 

 the opposite side of the Darent valley was the steep 

 chalk slope, presenting an unbroken face south- 

 ward until it abutted on the wide fertile Vale of 

 Holmesdale, when its trend was suddenly to the east. 

 There was a glimpse of the plateaux on the heights 

 with their capping of red clay with flints a soil which 

 is transforming the district into one great fruit-garden. 

 Wellhill with its Tertiary flints made an attractive 

 walk for active geologists, who, by skirting hop- 

 gardens, gained the steep path which led up through 

 rich fruit-fields to the summit ; while those more rest- 

 fully disposed reclined on the grassy down and scanned 

 the far distance in the north-east, where perchance 

 they might detect the smoke of an ocean liner /m her 

 way down the Thames, and, when atmospheric con- 

 ditions were very favourable, had also a glimpse of the 

 faint hazy outline of the Essex shore beyond. 



" tempo passato, perche non ritorni 1 " 



One of the most frequent guests was Professor John 

 Morris, the palaeontologist, so well known as the author 

 of the ' Catalogue of British Fossils,' a book necessary 

 for every practical geologist. He had worked with 

 Prestwich in-doors and out-of-doors, and was perfectly 

 happy day after day in the library, consulting or mak- 

 ing extracts from books. He seemed to prefer wet 

 weather, or any weather that made going out undesir- 

 able, so that he should not be disturbed, unless that 

 his host proposed some little excursion : then he was 

 all alacrity, ready to accompany, observe, and enjoy. 

 Few possessed such an amount of knowledge know- 

 ledge that was many-sided and withal he was so 

 modest and simple. Professor Morris knew the pro- 



