FAMILY LIFE AND CHARACTER 211 



now in the north of England, to inspect and 

 report on some poultry venture upon which a 

 county council had embarked, and which, by 

 reason of the sanguine ignorance of its promoters, 

 was not flourishing ; and now, again, he would 

 be visiting Ireland in connection with poultry 

 or pheasants. But whether asked by council or 

 landed proprietor, or whoever it was, he might 

 be depended on for giving the unvarnished truth, 

 for he never minced matters either in speech or 

 writing. As Mr. T. F. Plowman, secretary of 

 the "Bath and West" Society writes: "His 

 sterling independence of character was always 

 an assurance that you would have an honest 

 opinion from him upon any subject. ... A point 

 which always struck me was his extraordinary 

 versatility. He seemed to be the master of so 

 many subjects, for whether it was a question 

 of art, science or literature, he had alwavs 

 something to say worth listening to. . . . It 

 was very delightful to find anyone, in old age, 

 so fresh and enthusiastic as he could be in 

 discussing topics in which he had a special 

 interest. The society were indebted to him 

 for many useful suggestions in connection with 

 the poultry prize list, and in fact, some years 

 ago we remodelled it in accordance with his 

 suggestions, so as to make it of more practical 

 utility." 



When on the expeditions above referred to, he 



P2 



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