FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES 61 



China and Japan, and several other persons connected with 

 horticulture, to become directors. After two or three years 

 (there being a mortgage on the property) the company had 

 to be dissolved, and Mr. Mongredien lost all he had invested 

 in it. During the time it lasted, however, I and my wife 

 often spent from Saturday to Monday at Heatherside with 

 Mr. Mongredien, his wife, and two daughters; and among 

 the friends we occasionally met there was Professor (after- 

 wards Sir Richard) Owen, the great anatomist, and one of 

 the most charming of companions. Mr. Mongredien himself 

 was a highly educated and most energetic man, and a great 

 converser. He knew most European languages well, including 

 modern Greek, and was a good classical scholar. He was 

 also well read in general literature, devotedly fond of plants 

 and of nature generally, and somewhat of a bon vivant; and 

 when I add that his wife was agreeable, and his daughters 

 intellectual, it will be seen that we had all the elements to 

 make our visits delightful. I had had some correspondence 

 with Professor Owen many years before about the specimens 

 of orang-utan I sent home from Borneo, and I had occasion- 

 ally met him at scientific societies or at the British Museum; 

 but here I saw him in his social aspect, telling us curious 

 little anecdotes about animals, or quoting the older poets for 

 the gratification of the young ladies. He was also very fond 

 of gardening, and we spent much of our time in long walks 

 about the grounds, where there were quantities of the finest 

 species of conifers from about ten to thirty feet high and 

 in perfect health, and showing all the exquisite beauties of 

 their special type of vegetation in form, foliage, and colour 

 more completely than when at a greater age. These visits 

 gave me a knowledge and love of trees and shrubs, which 

 has been a constant pleasure to me in the three gardens I 

 have since had to make, from the very beginning. 



Among the dearest of my friends, the one towards whom 

 I felt more like a brother than to any other person, was Dr. 

 Richard Spruce, one of the most cultivated and most charm- 

 ing of men, as well as one of the most enthusiastic and 



