CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR. MANTELL. 197 



ing better to do, rode gently over the South Down, some 

 twenty-five miles, and at the close of the day, found him- 

 self at the residence of the future " Wizard of the World," 

 as Dr. Buckland designates your humble servanf. We 

 were mutually pleased with each other ; my few drawers of 

 fossils were soon looked over, but we were in gossip until 

 morning, and then commenced a friendship which has con- 

 tinued till now. Mr. Lyell was educated for the Bar. He 

 practised on the western circuit seven or eight years, and 

 he allowed me to correspond with him only during the va- 

 cations. His father, who is a Scotch Laird, is still living, 

 and there are several sons and daughters. Mr. Lyell is the 

 eldest, and at the death of his father inherits the family 

 estate, which, I believe, is moderate. However, about seven 

 or eight years after our acquaintance, Mr. Lyell, with great 

 good sense, abandoned his profession, with his father's con- 

 sent, and devoted himself wholly to geology, content with a 

 moderate income, and living in a very unostentatious man- 

 ner in an unfashionable part of the city. A few years ago 

 he married Miss Homer, who is much younger than him- 

 self, (Lyeli is forty-five or forty-six,) and a more suitable 

 companion he could not have found. He has no children. 

 In person, Mr. Lyell presents nothing remarkable, except 

 a broad expanse of forehead. He is of the middle size, a 

 decided Scottish physiognomy, small eyes, fine chin, and 

 a rather proud or reserved expression of countenance. 

 He is very absent, and a slow but profound thinker. He 

 was Professor in King's College, London, and gave lec- 

 tures there and at the Royal Institution, but it so happened 

 that I never heard him lecture. He always takes part in 

 the discussion at the meetings of the Geological Society, 

 but he has not facility in speaking ; there is hesitation in 

 his manner, and his voice is neither powerful nor melodi- 

 ous, nor is his action at all imposing. As a popular lecturer, 

 he would stand no chance with Buckland or Sedgwick. 

 He is providing himself with very beautiful illustrations for 



