1864] Two Days at Walton Hall. 163 



for since his boyhood Waterton's Essays (given him at 

 fourteen) had been a favourite book. He seemed to see 

 old friends in "the Owl's tower," "the Starling tower," 

 "the Heronry," "the Magpies," "the plumed willow," 

 "the thunder-struck poplar," "the 5oo-year-old oaks, 

 where the Buzzard used to nest, where the Jackdaw and 

 Owl nested in one hole." Of Waterton himself, " his 

 scolding me for my return ticket; his love of boating, of 

 resolution, of independence and self-reliance ; his contempt 

 for quackery (but implicit faith in his own nostrum of 

 drastic pills, ' which would have saved Prince Albert'; his 

 sympathy with Pan sylvanus or Homo ferus ; his apprecia- 

 tion of facts, and distrust of theory; his humours as to 

 Martin Luther" and "Black and Exotic Rats"; with his 

 "concealment of his own inconveniences and sufferings"; 

 all that he saw delighted him. " It was a real treat," he 

 wrote to Mr. Newton. " I enjoyed myself thoroughly, and 

 it will be a remembrance for years. I could fill many 

 pages with all he said and did and showed ; but what 

 struck me most was his suspicion of the Book-man, and his 

 constant remark of * that I have seen'; and he cautioned 

 me not to attribute any human feelings or impulse to 

 animals, however like their actions may be to what we 

 might suppose we might do under same circumstances." 

 "In bodily strength I think he is failing a little, though he 

 dared me to climb after him at 80 or 8 1 (I forget which is 

 his age)." 



Unhappily, the visit to Walton Hall, itself so enjoyable, 

 was not paid soon enough to brace his already exhausted 

 strength. Immediately after his return to Bembridge he 

 had a severe illness of six weeks' duration, the result of 

 overwork ; and this left him so enfeebled that for nearly 

 two years every effort to return to his work resulted in a 

 speedy return of illness. 



"It is only within the last few days that I have been 

 allowed to resume head-work," he tells Mr. Newton (Feb. 

 24th, 1862). "There is a whole heap of Bird-letters wait- 

 ing to be answered. I have as yet only taken in hands the 

 most pressing, but there are several evidently good and 

 reliable. ... If you know anything of the movements of 



M 2 



