^T. 58.] TO R. W. CHURCH. 571 



dred miles distant. One of those rare occasions, well- 

 timed for us, we enjoyed the next morning before 

 sunrise, and again in the afternoon. All that day 

 (Wednesday) we enjoyed the place and its surround- 

 ings, and the pleasant society of Mr. and Mrs. Hanbury. 

 They are much liked by the people of the hamlet and 

 district, for whom they are doing a great deal, estab- 

 lishing a school for girls, with the hearty cooperation 

 of the cure. Wednesday, after dinner, this good-will 

 of the neighborhood was shown in a truly Italian way. 

 The advocate of Ventimiglia, having some business 

 relative to land to transact with Mr. Hanbury, stayed 

 to dinner, and then asked permission to read and 

 present a poem which he had composed in compliment 

 to Mrs. (Catherine) Hanbury ; it being St. Catherine's 

 Day. It was delivered with Italian grace and fervor, 

 and an Italian lady, now one of the family, told us 

 that the versification was very choice. Thursday, the 

 grounds and house were thrown open, and a collation 

 provided for all the English people at Mentone that 

 Mr. Moggridge chose to conduct. Earlier I walked 

 over to Mentone to make some calls, especially upon 

 young Moggridge, 1 whom you know, and who, I am 

 sorry to say, had been seriously ill, and was still con- 

 fined to his bed. I found him busy over the flowers 

 and plants which his most attentive and energetic 

 father brings to him from all the mountains around, 

 cheerful and happy, but I fear he will hardly be able 

 to complete his illustrations of the botany of Men- 

 tone. Late in the afternoon, after enjoying the picnic, 

 a carriage took us to Mentone, and thence to Monaco, 



1 John Traherne Moggridge, 1842-1874 ; a keen naturalist. Wrote 

 on the botany of Mentone, and on harvesting ants and trap-door 

 spiders. 



