280 THE LAST SUMMERS AND WINTERS. 



although I confess I still cherish the hope of finding my- 

 self screened from the 'garish eye of night' within the 

 sombre shadows of a northern fiord." 



Like all the world he went to London in the summer of 

 185], and enjoyed it all the more that it was a sight-seeing 

 visit, complicated by no business. To his quiet observant 

 eye there was in London a boundless treat ; but in lieu of 

 his own record, which on this occasion was very brief, we 

 may give the following reminiscences which have been 

 kindly communicated by his ardent admirer and quondam 

 fellow-townsman, Adam White. Esq. : — 



" Whenever Mr Wilson came to town he called on me. 

 After Museum hours, I met him, and we had two or three 

 rare runs between the hours of four and ten. On one 

 occasion, when he was staying at Craven Street Hotel, I 

 dined with him, and then took the boat from Hungerford 

 Stairs to Greenwich. He was a delightful companion ; 

 but for a time he listened to me as I pointed out one object 

 after another, from distant Lambeth with its Lollard 

 tower, and old Lambeth Church, with Tradescant's tomb, 

 dear to naturalists, in its churchyard, to the Temple Gar- 

 dens, and the crowded city churches, Komaine's among the 

 rest, not very conspicuous as we sail under Blackfriars' 

 Bridge, and Barnaul's, whose facetious fun and sparkling 



