24 EAELY DAYS 



of taking both him and Joseph. [Gurney and Dawson, 

 by the way, Dawson Turner's sons, were almost of an age 

 with William Hooker, being but three years and one year 

 older respectively, and so more like cousins than uncles to 

 the boys.] 



In 1829 : They make very fair progress with their 

 tutor (who coached them in Latin) and are much more 

 inclined to like lessons than they used to be. 



1829 : The boys beg to thank you for your kind present 

 of ' The Boys' Own Book ' ; it is seldom out of their hands 

 during playtime. 



In after life Sir Joseph often talked of how he loved this 

 book, and read it and consulted it. 



In 1831 comes the first mention of their repeated stay at 

 Helensburgh so that the children may have country air and 

 liberty. Burnside was a delightful memory ; but even more 

 beloved was Invereck, and it became their country home in 

 1837. Indeed, when it came into the market in the late 

 seventies, Hooker would have bought it had it not been so 

 far from Kew. 



As at thirteen, ' Joseph is becoming a zealous botanist/ so 

 at fifteen, 'Joseph is contented and happy at home, and studying 

 Orchideaa most zealously.' 



In 1832, when the boys were sixteen and fifteen respectively, 

 they entered Glasgow University, with four sets of lectures 

 each, all in Latin and Greek for Joseph. 



Joseph has paid a good deal of attention to collecting 

 and drawing insects, though he has not nearly so much 

 natural ability for sketching as his brother has. Mrs. 

 Lyell sent Joseph a very nice specimen box, stored with 

 four or five dozen of the rarer insects found near Kinnordy. 



The Lyells of Kinnordy were to play a large part in Hooker's 

 life. Charles Lyell, the elder, 1 was a botanist of distinction and 



1 Charles Lyell (1767-1849), eldest son of Charles Lyell of Kinoordy, was 

 distinguished both as a Dante scholar and a botanist. Living at Bartley 

 in the New Forest from 1798 to 1825, he devoted himself especially to the study 

 of the mosses, several species of which bear his name, aa well as the genus 

 Lyellia of Robert Brown. 



