1882-1891 CLOSING YEARS 353 



the summer at Beaumaris, where Sir Andrew's 

 diminished strength was painfully shown by his 

 shortening walks. They went back, however, to the 

 Continent in the autumn in order to pass the winter 

 at Hyeres. The journey homeward in May (1882) 

 proved to be the last of Ramsay's experiences of 

 foreign travel. He was well enough to be greatly 

 interested in the Roman remains of Southern France. 

 At Nimes his antiquarian zeal was kindled by the 

 grand amphitheatre and the baths and the Maison 

 Carree. He walked across the Pont de Card by the 

 old water channel. Farther north his ardour for the 

 relics of the past was renewed in Auvergne, as he 

 paced the mouldering rampart of the hill of Gergovia, 

 and pictured to himself Caesar's siege and the heroic 

 defence of Vercingetorix. Fain would he have 

 climbed the Puy de Dome, but the weather prevented 

 him from attempting it. 



For the next two years Sir Andrew and his family 

 came up to London for the winter, but he hardly ever 

 went to the Athenaeum, and was only able slowly to 

 walk up and down the streets in the neighbourhood of 

 his house in Cromwell Crescent. It was then resolved 

 to break up the London home, in order that he might 

 remain permanently at Beaumaris. There he continued 

 for a time to enjoy the panorama of his own Caernarvon- 

 shire mountains, and was much more in the open air than 

 he could have been in London. But from this time 

 forward nothing could be done save to watch with sad 

 and affectionate eyes the progress of the slow decline. 

 His mind does not seem in these last years to have 

 reverted often to his geological days ; at least he 

 seldom spoke of them. His memory would some- 

 times dwell on the long bygone days of his childhood. 



2 A 



