2 -MY T-TFE AS A NATURALIST 



It may here be mentioned that the etymology of my surname, 

 Westell, or Westall, appears to be local of the West Hall from 

 residence thereby or therein, the name Westall dating back to 

 the reign of Edward I. (1301), when I find reference to Kichard 

 atte Westhalle, alias Westall de Ancotes, Lincolnshire. In the 

 Subsidy Rolls for Hertfordshire, Hundred of Broad water, the 

 name of Westall appears in 1546, and in the Register of New 

 College, Oxford, 1564-5, there is mention of one, Owen Westall. 

 Further, in a Marriage Register at Westminster, 1569-70, there 

 is an entry of the marriage of Jerome Westall with Margaret 

 Lewes. In another London Register, dated 1793, there is also 

 an entry of the marriage of James Flintoft with one Martha 

 Westall, at St George's, Hanover Square. The Oxford entry 

 is especially interesting as my family migrated from the Uni- 

 versity city to St Albans about a century ago. The present 

 Town Clerk of Oxford informs me that my name is still a familiar 

 one there. 



The matter of inherited character is directly traceable to my 

 grandfather aforesaid, and also to two great-uncles, Richard 

 and William Westall. Both the last-named were born at the 

 county town of Hertford, the former in 1765, the latter in 1781. 



Richard Westall was a poet as well as historical painter. He 

 wrote " A Day in Spring and Other Poems," an honoured volume 

 in my library which is full of Nature lore. Richard was a poor 

 boy, and was bound as an apprentice to an engraver of heraldry 

 on silver in Gutter Lane, Cheapside, London. Whilst serving 

 his apprenticeship, Westall attended evening lectures at the 

 Royal Academy, as he evidently had a bent for art. He there 

 met Mr, afterwards Sir, Thomas Lawrence, and, when Richard 

 Westall had finished his apprenticeship in Gutter Lane, Sir Thomas 

 and he became such great friends that they took a joint house 

 together in Greek Street, Soho. 



Richard is best known as an illustrator of British poetry. His 

 work, we are told, was prone to elegance, grace, and refinement, 

 though a large amount of affectation was introduced. He 

 sketched love and love scenes under every possible type and 

 symbol, many of his subjects being devoted to ancient mythology. 



The first production which called public attention to his art 

 was a picture exhibited in 1785 representing a scene from Chaucer's 

 " January and May," but his first great work consisted of illus- 

 trations from the writings of Milton and Shakespeare which he 

 was commissioned to execute by Alderman Boydell, founder of 



