1842] Return to England. 5 



tembre c'etait mon anniversaire, et la montre que papa m'avait donne 

 a Neuchatel fut son present, mais comme nous etions chez des etrangers 

 il ne fut pas celebre. 



Collections of birds and shells invariably entertained 

 him. On November i6th, " nous allames diner chez 

 Mr. G., et nous y vimes une belle collection d'oiseaux, en 

 particulier un magnifique Argus Faisan, de Java." Several 

 similar treats are mentioned. And on November 23rd, 

 44 je cuellis un peu de violettes, que je portis a maman, qui 

 n'avait pas pu se lever parce qu'elle avait trop mal a la 

 tete." But the most singular note, in the journal of the 

 future botanist, is one made during a visit to a country 

 residence in Aberdeenshire : 



Madame Spottiswood nous mena un jour voir un couvert de renards, 

 qui etait couvert de bruy6re et d'une plante piquante tres commune 

 en Ecosse. 



He had been so long abroad as to -know no name for 

 the gorse of his native isle ! One is here forcibly reminded 

 of the story of Linnaeus, when he came to England, 

 falling on his knees at sight of that same " prickly plant" 

 in its splendour. Linnaeus, however, made its acquaint- 

 ance under more favourable auspices than those of a 

 Scottish October. 



On the 6th of December he was placed at a school in 

 Clifton (Mr. Bailey's), where he remained for two years. 

 In June, 1842, he paid his first visit to the new home in 

 which his parents had lately settled Bembridge, in the 

 Isle of Wight. 



His first impressions of Bembridge were pleasant ones, 

 and here he again met friends from whom he had for some 

 years been separated. From Ryde, on his first arrival in 

 the Isle of Wight (June i6th), " nous promenames a Bern- 

 bridge, et nous allames voir Mr. Shawe, puis nous allames 

 voir notre maison, que je trouvai bien jolie, et j'appris 

 que papa avait achete deux bateaux, un desquels etait 

 joliement grand et dans lequel il pouvait aller sur la 

 mer." On the following Sunday (June iQth), " nous allames 

 a 1'eglise, et je rencontrai mon ami Walter, que je fus bien 

 content de revoir." 



