304 Ifcinss of tbe 1Rofc, IRifle, anfc (3un 



Wolff was staying at the time, and can vouch for the 

 truth of the story. The great Oriental traveller and 

 linguist was as helpless as a child in all the ordinary 

 affairs of life. He could not dress himself without 

 assistance, and at table had to have his food cut up 

 for him. He was particularly careless, too, about his 

 personal appearance, and his wife had strictly enjoined 

 him to be sure and put on a clean shirt every day. 

 He followed her injunctions literally, and at the end 

 of a week was wearing six shirts, one over the other ! 



But amid all this whirl of excitement and popularity 

 there was one thing which kept Humphry Davy from 

 becoming the " spoiled darling " of Society, and that was 

 his love of sport. He turned for rest and recreation to 

 his beloved rod and gun. By the side of the trout- 

 stream or among the stubble and heather he shook off 

 the trammels of artificial life and came face to face with 

 Nature. 



His brother John, who was not only eminent as a 

 physiologist and anatomist, but was a great fisherman 

 to boot, and the author of two delightful books on 

 angling, says : 



"It was not unusual for him to go two or three 

 hundred miles for a day's fishing. . . . Passionately 

 fond of the beauties of Nature, which he felt as a 

 poet and saw as a philosopher, probably the happiest 

 hours of his life were spent by the river or lake side, 

 or on the mountain moor. In the open air, in the 

 country, at any season of the year, but more especially 

 in spring or autumn, when in tolerable health, he 

 could always (and sometimes even when labouring 



