116 WOODVILLE : ITS PETS AND ITS PURSUITS. 



and although it is too likely that, from this period, seeds 

 of mischief continued latent in his chest, his light, tall 

 figure learned again to climb the hills and achieve long 

 pedestrian journeys ; and, dispelled by domestic happiness, 

 and the growing clearness of a blessed hope, the shadows 

 which had frequently hovered over his spirit fled away; 

 occasional griefs notwithstanding. Nothing could be more 

 enviable than the habitual serenity of his remaining years. 

 Of the softness and tenderness acquired in the school of 

 affliction, there remained enough to make him a son of 

 consolation, with delicate perception of others' pain, and 

 happy skill in comforting ; at the same time, there was 

 that habitual sunny-heartedness which, rejoicing with the 

 joyful, brought new gladness into the midst of mirth, 

 inspiring with added glee the children's sports and irra- 

 diating with its cordial suffusion the fireside circle. 



Nor amongst the inhabitants of Woodville must Ave 

 forget the owner's mute companions. Our own first 

 acquaintance with himself was in 1838, when the appari- 

 tion of a coati mondi and other curious creatures in the 

 yard of the adjoining house in George Square convinced 

 us that the Mr Wilson who had come to dwell next door 

 must be " Mr Wilson the naturalist/' As the reader will 

 have perceived, by the affectionate inquiries regarding a 

 redbreast and chaffinch in one of the foregoing letters, 

 it was a strong attachment which he formed for such 



