156 LIFE OF SIR JOHN LUBBOCK ch. 



A few years before, Lord Avebury had begun 

 to write down, in a notebook specially given to 

 the subject, all the more interesting of his dreams. 

 Some are very curious, and there is little doubt 

 that he contemplated writing a book on the sub- 

 ject. He never attempted, so far as I am aware, 

 any work of the creative imagination. Romance 

 had little attraction for him. As a boy he had 

 written verses, but they were not of remarkable 

 quality. One would be disposed to deny him 

 the gift of creative imagination, though it is 

 manifest that he possessed in a high degree the 

 scientific imagination — that faculty which sug- 

 gested to him questions as to the reasons why 

 this or that natural fact happened as it did. 

 It was a faculty fostered, doubtless, by the great 

 example of Darwin, who had it in such excellence. 

 But in his dreams Lord Avebury's imagination 

 created for him strange fancies enough, the more 

 strange considering that in the normal plane of 

 consciousness his mind never showed any romantic 

 bent whatever. The fact is to be noted : it 

 would be hazardous to venture explanation. 



His dreams traversed the usual fantastic 

 range — he fell, he flew, he found himself in 

 inadequate clothing at the most inconvenient 

 moments, he was chased by monsters, he him- 

 self was changed into a monster and comported 

 himself as such — the usual experiences. The 

 surroundings, the dream scenery, were some- 

 times of a wild character, but more often drawn 

 from the pursuits of his waking life. He went 

 geologising, golfing, bathing, to business in the 

 House. Occasionally the Houses of the legis- 



