CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR. MANTELL. 229 



* 



try, my hearers would be pretty much of the same char- 

 acter, attentive and wish-to-be-instructed listeners ; not 

 the listless, fashionable attendants which we have in Lon- 

 don 



FROM DR. MANTELL. 



June 22, 1852. 



PEOPLE are hastening out of town, some for 



excursions on the Continent, and many to engage in the tur- 

 moils of a general election, an occasion in which English- 

 men show their appreciation of the privilege of choosing 

 wise and prudent senators, to conduct the affairs of the 

 nation for the next seven years, by getting drunk and 

 committing all kinds of follies and vices, and selecting the 

 richest booby of a squire, or leading person of property in 

 the district, without the slightest regard to his qualification 

 for the important duties he is supposed to be called upon 

 to perform. I am so disgusted with the cant and hypocrisy 

 of both Whigs and Tories that I should not vote at all. We 

 shall have three or four months of rioting and debauchery ; 

 the evil induced in small country towns, is incredibly great. 

 I am hard at work on the new edition of my " Medals " ; 

 spending a large sum in additional illustrations ; for I can- 

 not allow a work of mine to appear without making it as 

 perfect as my means will admit of. 



FROM DR. MANTELL. 



July 16, 1852. 



You will be pleased to hear that I am elected 



honorary member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of 

 Holland, and still more, that the Queen (which means the 

 government, Earl Derby,) has ordered my name to be 

 inscribed among the list of distinguished savans deserving 

 reward from the crown, and an annuity of 100 for life is 

 granted me. This came quite unexpectedly, in a most kind 

 letter from the Earl of Rosse, (President of the Royal So- 



