Lehrjahre and Waiulerjalire 189 



he is working at the brewery in London but unfortunately keeps a long way off from 

 where I shall. The 2 Kays came up, one to be made a Freemason, the other to be 

 passed to the 2'"' degree and I was raised to the third on the same night. Frederick 

 Bristowe has been in Cambridge the last week to see his brother, who takes his degree 

 next year. At the Epigram meeting last time we had the most amusing collection that 

 as yet we liave been favoured with. One short one was on Griffin, a Johnian Senior 

 Wranglei', who has written the most stale, abstract and uninteresting books oti optics it 

 is possible to conceive and quite spoilt the beauty of the science. I ought to say the 

 subject given was " An Epitaph." It was : 



"Who'll weep for Griffin? 

 " Not I said the eye, 

 "He has made me so dry, 

 "I cannot weep for Griffin'." 



Bessy wrote to me the other day, it was principally on good advice. 



The Kays tell me that they are going to build a splendid street in London longer 

 than any at present existing and closed at either end with large metal doors and 

 archways ; it is to be by Kensington Gardens. Westmacott has nearly finished his 

 bas-reliefs for the basement of the new Royal Exchange ; they are said to be splendidly 

 executed. I do not know how the figures are grouped, but they form an allegory 

 relating to Commerce, and the figures are in motlern not ancient dress and I believe 

 not unlike those on the old penny postage envelope. The British and Foreign Institute 

 is going to build extensively ; there are now 1 2.50 members, the prices for dining ai-e the 

 same as those of the Athenaeum, which are high. A very fair library has suddenly 

 sprung up by all the principal publishers giving very handsome presents of books to 

 Buckingham as a return for hLs exertions in that pai-t of the copyright bill by which the 

 number of copies of each publication that must be sent to different libraries has been 

 diminished, and these lx)oks he has made over to the Institute. Are Lucy's kinchins 

 still with you? Give my love to them, if they are and also to Lucy. Your very 

 affectionate son, 



Francis Galton. 



How is my mother's health? and do j'ou still teach Adele's school-children? Your 

 chess-lKjard is invaluable; we lie lazily on the biinks of the river in the sun playing 

 chess after hall, which is luxurious to a degree. I didn't read the speech of Sir Robert 

 you mentioned but should have been very glail to hav(^ iu'en able to have cheered 

 him for the pa.s.sage in question. 



' N. W. Griffin: A Treatise on Optics, Cambridge, 1842. The last information as 

 to the Epigram Club I can find is in a letter of Nov. 10, 1844, received by Francis 

 Galton on Dec. 16th. It is from Charles Evans who hopes Galton has not lost all 

 interest in his old protegee, which is flourishing satisfactoril}'. The subjects for the 

 next meeting were "Much cry and little wool," "F'ools enter in where angels fear to 

 tread" together with the "current epitaphs." Evans states that they mi.ss Galton very 

 much in the colony, for though his old rooms are occupied by a man known to both of 

 them, he being a fellow-commoner and rather antique did not associate much with them. 

 In the postscript comes the query, " Is the pledge still inviolate ? " 



