210 LIFE OF SIR JOHN LUBBOCK oh. xvm 



When we consider the present weight of the 

 Income Tax and that of the Death Duties also, 

 these words will not be read without a sigh that 

 our burdens seem so little likely to be lightened. 



He adds in the diary of the same day : " I took 

 Alice, Willy Fox Pitt, Marcia and Violet Lane 

 Fox to the Savoy to see the Sorcerer and Trial 

 by Jury. Did not care for either." 



It has to be confessed that the last comment 

 is typical of his attitude towards most dramatic 

 performances. He could not endure the mis- 

 understandings, generally between husband and 

 wife, which are the basis of most modern (and 

 ancient also, perhaps) theatrical representation. 

 They distressed him. 



He was much more interested in the perform- 

 ance of Van, the puppy, who, he reports, was 

 learning to pick out cards tolerably. He still 

 had his ants, all set out in their glass-houses and 

 pursuing their incessant activities in the study, 

 and he also had an observation hive of bees 

 fitted in with their exit through the window. At 

 this time he notes that two of his ants were ten 

 years old, and they survived as old friends till 

 fourteen and fifteen years of age respectively. 

 At the death of one of these illustrious insects, 

 which was recorded in some of the scientific 

 journals, a French paper had a paragraph " pro- 

 foundly sympathising with the great scientist 

 on the loss of his aged and valued relative." 



