i866 BRITISH ASSOCIA TION A T NOTTINGHAM 287 



After the meeting he sent me the following 

 account of it : 



MY DEAR GEIKIE I had a week in Anglesey after 

 the British Association meeting, and yesterday brought 

 up wife and bairns. I shall stay for a Coal Commis- 

 sion meeting on the iith [Sept.], and if nothing come 

 of that to interfere, shall immediately take the field 

 thereafter. The British Association meeting was a 

 good one, and I stayed at Newstead Abbey, and slept 

 in the poet's bedroom ! 



In the poet's bed I slept, 



And out o' the bed i' the morn, 

 Out o' the bed I crept, 



And blew my sounding horn ; 

 Then down the turret stair 



I winded in my glory, 

 And light winds raised my hair 



As I entered the refectory. 

 And oh for the muffins and tea, 



Beef, ham, and venison pasty, 

 The jam and the honey o' bee, 



The marmalade so tasty ! 

 And ever at dinner again, 



I swear by heaven and hades, 

 We quaffed the bright champagne, 



And jabbered with the ladies ; 

 And the lights shone overhead, 



And the coats of mail they glinted 

 On the wall o' the hall where we fed } 



Nor meat nor liquor stinted. 

 No more have I to say, 



Though the words could come by milliards, 

 I presided in C all day, 



And all night I played at billiards. 



Yours ever more, 



ANDW. C. RAMSAY. 



The general tenor of his life among his colleagues 

 in the field during the years up to the end of 1871 

 can best be gathered from his letters, from which a few 

 selections are here given : 



