168 Life and Letters of Francis Gait on 



From April and May of this year no letters have survived ; we do 

 not know whether Galton went on reading with Hopkins or went in 

 for his College May. We lose also all account of how he came to join 

 a reading party under Cayley and Venables 1 which went in June to 

 Aberfeldy, in Perthshire. 



On June 15 he is staying with the Kays at Terrace House, 

 Battersea, and writes to his father that he is leaving by boat for 

 Dundee in an hour and a half. He describes his journey to town, how 

 he has dined with Partridge, seen the Missourian (which he holds to 

 be falsely articulated in order to increase the apparent height), and 

 heard Robert le Diable all told with the usual quaint humour. The 

 first letter from Aberfeldy is five days later and some of it may be 

 given here : 



ABERFELDY, June 19, 1842. 

 MY DEAR FATHER, 



My proceedings have gone on splendidly but the voyage from London to 

 Dundee was all that could be horrible; instead of taking 36 we were 50 hours, a swell 

 of a most abominable description inclined slightly to our course so that the rolling was 

 dreadful. Everybody (104 in all, 30 was the usual number) was wretchedly sick. I as 

 usual dreadfully so. Otherwise we had a jolly voyage; most of our party on board and 

 the two tutors. Cayley is unanimously voted a brick and a most gentlemanly-minded 

 man. Some of the passengers too had seen much life. One was a traveller in the interior 



of Africa, shot elephants, lions, etc. etc Perth is beautiful to a degree, ditto the lady 



inhabitants I hear Sir Neil Menzies is a most hospitable person, but I have not yet 



sent my letter of introduction. In haste 



Your affectionate son, FRAS. GALTON. 



The reading party on this occasion consisted of the two Kays, 

 Fowell and Charles Buxton, Galton and Yeoman 2 . We may reaspnably 

 expect that play rather predominated over work. The reading party 

 gave a ball : 



The Cambridge party requests the honour of - - company on Wednesday the 

 31st instant. Dancing will commence at 8 o'clock. 



BREADALBANE ARMS, ABEKFELDIE. 



There were 29 " Dancing Ladies " and only 22 " Dancing Gentle- 

 men," but as " 7 Cantabs " are included in the latter we may safely 



1 Venables, afterwards Canon of Lincoln, was 33rd Wrangler and in the second class, 

 Classical Tripos. 



- Yeoman was 27th Wrangler, and third class, Classical Tripos in 1845, I think the 

 Buxtons and Kays took poll degrees. 



