THE LATE REGINALD BOSWORTH SMITH, M.A. CXXlll. 



raven's eggs from a nest in the fir-trees on the well-known local 

 landmark of Badbury Rings " may prove, in time to come, 

 comparable in historic interest with Gilbert White's description 

 of the nesting of the honey-buzzard in the Selborne Woods." 



In 1902 he was elected a member of the Dorset Field Club 

 and shortly afterwards a Vice-President, and it was in this, the 

 later period of his life, that most of the members of the Club, 

 like myself, became acquainted with him, and enjoyed his friend- 

 ship. And what a privilege it is to be able to look back on such 

 a friendship ! A very old friend observes of him : "Few men 

 have had so wide a circle of attached friends, for not many have 

 the same gifts which so endeared him to all who knew him." 

 Another lifelong friend recalls the " walks and talks and 

 communings which make up the best of one's life." What, 

 then, were those " gifts which so endeared him to all who knew 

 him " ? To those who only knew him slightly, perhaps, the 

 most attractive feature in his personality was his unfailing 

 courtesy and kindness of manner ; to those who knew him 

 more intimately it was that which underlay the courtesy, viz., his 

 warm affectionate heart. And a special place in that heart 

 was doubtless reserved for Dorset and everything connected 

 with Dorset. " He had that wonderful gift which won all 

 hearts." if I may quote from a memorial sermon, "of putting 

 himself in touch with each one of us, and making even the 

 humblest feel that he loved them. The labourer, for instance, 

 felt as he talked with him that he was not separated from him by 

 that indefinable barrier which too often, alas ! separates class 

 from class. It was simply a brother man who entered so 

 sympathetically into their lives." 



To show that this unique sympathy was felt and appreciated 

 far even beyond the bounds of Christendom, I make another 

 quotation from a letter just received by Mrs. Bosworth Smith, 

 bearing the signatures of three distinguished negro gentlemen in 

 West Africa : 



" Representing the Muslim community of Sierra Leone, the 

 undersigned beg most respectfully to convey to you on its behalf 



