XVII 



Hirst's command at the time were very moderate. Through the 

 accidents of trade, or the misconduct of individuals, the property left 

 by his father had, in great part, disappeared. Still, without a 

 moment's hesitation, he gave the dying youth the comforting assur- 

 ance that his mother would be properly taken care of. For some years 

 afterwards, while Hirst continued in Germany, I was myself the 

 intermediary through whom the widow's allowance passed to her 

 hands. 



The sum paid when Hirst was articled to Mr. Carter, together with 

 a professional education of five years, was naturally, on the part of 

 his relatives, expected to produce some tangible result; and when 

 they found that he had resolved to relinquish it all for the sake of 

 the cultivation of his intellect, they thought his resolution a wild one. 

 But he never wavered for a moment, and, except on occasions when 

 his health caused me anxiety, I never wavered in the conviction that 

 the step he had taken was a wise one. Throughout the winter and 

 spring in Marburg, our days were spent in labour, attending lectures, 

 working in the chemical laboratory, and studying at home. At 

 10 P.M., the stroke of a piano by Hirst gave notice that the work of 

 the day was ended. We had music and light reading afterwards, the 

 latter including the ' Essays of Montaigne,' which proved to us a 

 source of strength as well as of delight. At 11 P.M. we went to bed. 

 I was earliest up, for, soon observing that hard study was telling 

 upon the younger and less vigorous constitution, I persuaded him to 

 give more time to repose. 



After I had quitted Marburg, leaving Hirst behind me, Dr. 

 Simpson, a medical man with a passion for chemistry, afterwards 

 Professor of Chemistry at Queen's College, Cork, came to the Uni- 

 versity to pursue his studies in Bunsen's laboratory. He brought 

 with him his wife and family and a sister of his wife. They were 

 both sisters of John Martin, the pure-minded Young Irelander. Ac- 

 quaintance ripened into friendship between the young people, friend- 

 ship into love, and, after Hirst had taken my place at Queenwood 

 College in 1853, he married Miss Anna Martin. A few years of un- 

 alloyed happiness were wound up by an attack of tuberculosis, which 

 ended in her death in 1857. He had taken her to Biarritz, thence to 

 Pau, whence he had returned to Paris, where she died. I was on my 

 way to Switzerland when intelligence of the calamity reached me. 

 Ignorant of their address in Paris, I sought him in his old quarters. 

 Failing to find him there, and guided by a vague indication, I sought 

 him in the Rue Marbceuf. Here, though baulked at first, I dis- 

 covered where he lodged. On turning, afterwards, the corner of a 

 street, I met him face to face, looking as white as marble. He was 

 returning from ordering his wife's coffin. 



I stood beside him in the cemetery of Pere la Chaise when she was 



