FLEEMINGS UNCLE JOHN xxvii 



the professor,' lie wrote to his brother ; and to Fleeming him- 

 self, with a touch of simple drollery, c I was much pleased with 

 your lecture but why did you hit me so hard with Conisure's ' 

 (connoisseur's, quasi amateur's) c engineering ? Oh, what pre- 

 sumption ! either of you or myself ! ' A quaint, pathetic figure, 

 this of uncle John, with his dung cart and his inventions ; and 

 the romantic fancy of his Mexican house ; and his craze about 

 the Lost Tribes, which seemed to the worthy man the key of all 

 perplexities ; and his quiet conscience, looking back on a life not 

 altogether vain, for he was a good son to his father while his 

 father lived, and when evil days approached, he had proved 

 himself a cheerful Stoic. 



It followed from John's inertia, that the duty of winding 

 up the estate fell into the hands of Charles. He managed it 

 with no more skill than might be expected of a sailor ashore, 

 saved a bare livelihood for John and nothing for the rest. 

 Eight months later, he married Miss Jackson ; and with her 

 money, bought in some two-thirds of Stowting. In the beginning 

 of the little family history which I have been following to so 

 great an extent, the Captain mentions, with a delightful pride : 

 4 A Court Baron and Court Leet are regularly held by the Lady 

 of the Manor, Mrs. Henrietta Camilla Jenkin ; ' and indeed the 

 pleasure of so describing his wife, was the most solid benefit of 

 the investment ; for the purchase was heavily encumbered and 

 paid them nothing till some years before their death. In the 

 meanwhile, the Jackson family also, what with wild sons, an in- 

 dulgent mother and the impending emancipation of the slaves, was 

 moving nearer and nearer to beggary ; and thus of two doomed 

 and declining houses, the subject of this memoir was born, heir 

 to an estate and to no money, yet with inherited qualities that 

 were to make him known and loved. 



VOL. I. b 



