6 MY LIFE AS A NATURALIST 



But William Westall not only travelled extensively in England, 

 Scotland, and Ireland for subjects to put upon his canvases, as 

 in 1801-3 he accompanied the distinguished English navigator, 

 Captain Matthew Flinders, as draughtsman on his voyage of 

 discovery to Australia. He was elected an Associate of the 

 Eoyal Academy in 1813, and died on January 22nd, 1850. It is 

 probable that, with other members of the expedition, William 

 Westall was, on arrival at the Isle of France, made a prisoner of 

 war. Flinders was detained there as a prisoner for six years, and 

 presumably Westall would be likewise disposed. 



Several of my more recent relatives notably the late John 

 Westall, my grandfather's brother also achieved success as 

 landscape painters, and one of my sisters, Beatrice Daisy, has 

 inherited artistic tendencies in a marked degree, and is, like 

 myself, a passionate lover of the country. 



My great-grandfather, whom I remember quite well, was a 

 Herald writer, and he also drove the Koyal Mail between Hatfield 

 and St Albans for many years. Twice in my life there have been 

 four generations of my family living at one time. 



Franklin, we are told, was a misfit in his father's candle shop, 

 as Darwin was as an undergraduate at Glasgow University. 

 Both eventually stumbled upon a vocation capable of inciting in 

 them a passionate enthusiasm, though Darwin's father once pre- 

 dicted mournfully: "You care "for nothing but shooting, dogs, 

 and rat-catching, and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all 

 your family." First it was intended that Charles Darwin 

 should be a physician, later a clergyman, but, fortunately, 

 when at Cambridge he came under the direct influence of an 

 eminent and enlightened scholar, Professor Henslow, when he 

 entered the latter's Natural History Class. Thus was the 

 apprenticeship of Darwin in the School of Natural Science 

 entered into. 



Now I do not know that it was ever my painful duty to be 

 chastised by a parent after the manner of Charles Darwin, as, 

 living in the country, amidst the pleasant environs of a city 

 famous throughout the whole world for the part it has played in 

 English history, undoubtedly made a great impression upon my 

 young life, added to which my family wisely recognised the 

 manifold delights of outdoor life. 



As I have already indicated, there was also at hand the assist- 

 ance and encouragement of a self-educated grandparent William 

 Westell and this, together with a suitable environment, meant 



