MT. 83.] AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 395 



no apparent gain in strength. A visit late in Sep- 

 tember from Sir John and Lady Evans gave untold 

 pleasure, although he found himself unable to carry 

 out his programme of accompanying them to various 

 sites of the plateau implements. It was after this 

 visit that he felt stronger and better, and, as an inter- 

 mediate step to geological work, began writing his 

 autobiography, which his wife had often urged him 

 to place on record, and the few pages of which are 

 given in the early part of this volume. With his pen 

 in hand and a sheaf of foolscap before him he lighted 

 up and felt the old power for work. As this was the 

 case, he could not resist breaking ground with a paper 

 " On some Local Freshwater Deposits underlying the 

 Glacial Series in the South of England," which he in- 

 tended to be the forerunner of a series of glacial 

 memoirs. 1 This last work, unfortunately, is too in- 

 complete for publication. His ruling passion the 

 love of geology was, however, unquenchable. 



But about 9.30 on the evening of the 1st of Novem- 

 ber, and after a day when, in spite of repeated re- 

 minders, his pen had been longer than usual at work, 

 Joseph Prestwich rose from his chair, while his wife as 

 usual was reading aloud, and going across the room, 

 lay down on the sofa, saying in rather a low voice, " I 

 am not feeling very well." He never complained, not 

 even when in pain and suffering, so it was evident that 

 he was ill. He would not hear of Dr Bury being sent 

 for, saying, " Wait, I am feeling better," and went back 

 to his easy-chair. But the improvement was only tem- 

 porary, as shortly after he became unconscious for two 

 or three minutes. While a messenger rode off to 



1 A brief account of this MS. is given in the Geological Magazine, Dec. 

 IV., vol. v. p. 405, 1898. 



