i875 DISCOURSE AT ROYAL INSTITUTION 331 



You know that I was always soft enough in the head, 

 but now I think I have got softened all over, not 

 excepting the engine that drives the blood. I do not 

 think I have even thought a cross thought since I came 

 home, and I only hope I may always be able to keep 

 up that decent frame of mind. You see I do not mind 

 what I say to you or your sister. You are one of the 

 Sisters of Charity, and I make my confession to you 

 as I would to the Pope, honest man, if I happened to 

 be intimate with him, and liked him sufficiently. I 

 often think of that pleasant episode in my life which 

 began when I first went to Pumpsaint, and has lasted 

 up till to-day. That to me is a golden legend better 

 than any that Caxton ever printed, for in spite of a 

 few clouds, so much of it has been full of air, light, and 

 sunshine. On the 26th July 1842 I first went to 

 Pumpsaint, and there was no winter at all that year, 

 nor for several years after. And even now there is 

 no more of it than is perhaps good for one. 



LONDON, 2 ^th April 1875. 



MY DEAR GEIKIE Since receiving yours of 2ist 

 I have been very busy. . . . Last night I lectured at 

 the Royal Institution on the Pre-Miocene Alps, and 

 their subsequent waste and degradation, to a good 

 audience. It is a difficult subject to make quite plain 

 to a general audience, the figures are so large ; but 

 though I was not quite satisfied with it myself, Sir 

 Philip Egerton and others seemed to think I made it 

 clear. Ever sincerely, ANDW. C. RAMSAY. 



LONDON, 23^ July 1875. 



MY DEAR MRS. COOKMAN . . . As for me my life 

 is rendered miserable by writing testimonials for men 



