44 LOUD LILFORD 



to see him casually as a Guardsman, about 

 London, in the ante- Crimean days ; afterwards 

 as a big, rollicking, good-natured M.P., best 

 known as "Hippy Dawson," and lately I have 

 renewed my acquaintance with him at Bourne- 

 mouth.' 



One schoolboy letter of this period (1845) 

 has been preserved, the spelling immaculate, 

 the entreaties very earnest that he might be 

 allowed to attend his ' grandmamma's funeral.' 

 Lady Holland had died that year, and had 

 left her grandson the collection of stuffed birds 

 at Ampthill. 



In 1848 my brother went to Harrow: a 

 stretch of fifty years between that period and 

 the present makes it difficult for those of his 

 Harrow friends who yet remain to furnish any 

 lively recollections of his public school days. 

 But one thing they are unanimous in stating, 

 and that is that in a more or less degree he 

 made naturalists of them all. His interest in 

 bird and beast life was so keen, his power of 

 observation developed so rapidly, that it was 

 impossible to be much with him and not feel 

 drawn towards the subjects to which he gave a 



