DISCOVERY 



pivilrcoMii li.i'l left the island in a state of vioknt 

 disaffection. Amongst job-scckers Wolcot was /acile 

 princcps. At first he tried to get the appointment of 

 " Governor of the Mosquito Territory." This scheme 

 failed through the retirement at home of Shelburne, to 

 whom Trclawney owed his present position. At last 

 Trelawney told Wolcot that he could do nothing for 

 him — unless he were in Holy Orders, in which event 

 he could give him the living of St. Ann's, as the rector 

 was very ill and could not live long. This with various 

 fees could be made at that time to yield about two 

 thousand pounds a year. As for the duties, to all 

 intents and purposes they could be ignored. The 

 clergy of Jamaica were, to put it in round terms, a 

 pretty hot lot. Long, who was at this time Speaker 

 of the Assembly, says that some were better qualified 

 to be retailers of salt fish or boatswains or privateers 

 than ministers of the gospel. To such a degree greed 

 was in the ascendant that rectors actually formed a 

 trade-union, and refused to marry or baptise except 

 at enhanced prices. As late as 1800 some would refuse 

 to open a pra\'er-book out of church for less than five 

 pounds, six and eightpence. 



This " beautiful " community (Peter was fond of 

 using the adjective in this ironic way) Wolcot now 

 joined. It necessitated a visit to England — that was 

 all. On Saturday and Sunday, June 24th and 25th, 

 1769, the kinsman of the poet of Thebes was ordained 

 first deacon, then priest, by Richard Terrick, Bishop of 

 London. Horace Walpole said that Terrick's only 

 episcopal qualifications were " a sonorous delivery and 

 an assiduity of backstairs address." 



Wolcot returned to Jamaica at the end of March 1770, 

 about the same time as Chattcrton, harbinger of the 

 new spirit in poetry, came up to London. He found 

 the expiring rector had unexpectedly recov-ercd. 

 Trelawney, who must have seen the ironic humour of 

 the situation, kindly advised for his friend, phyt^ician 

 and fiddler a new office, that of " Physician-General 

 to all the Horse and Foot Militia raised or to be raised 

 \vithin this island." A few months later the small 

 living of Vere fell vacant, and Wolcot became rector. 

 No one took him seriously. " This," said a gentleman 

 at a dinner-party, " is Dr. Wolcot, the unworthy 

 incumbrance of this parish." After a few weeks the 

 " incumbrance " had dropped all pretence of holding 

 services, and was spending his Sundays shooting wood- 

 pigeons . 



The curtain now comes down with the rush of a storm 

 upon Wolcot's Jamaican adventure. That fortune 

 which was to have put him " beyond the caprice of a 

 mob " seemed as far off as ever when in 1773 he obtained 

 a year's leave of absence from his rectory, never to 

 return. The reign of the Trelawneys was over. 

 Malaria had ended the lives of the Governor and 



his daughter .Vnn. Lady Trclawney alone remained. 

 It is said that Wolcot, as a Icist desperate throw, 

 endeavoured to marry her— he certainly had had 

 " designs " upon her daughter, whom he addressed as 

 " The Nymph of Tauris." But even this failed, and 

 the last months of 1773 see the Rev. Dr. Wolcot 

 back in the West Country, setting about to get his 

 living as a physician in Truro. 



{To be continued.) 



Reviews of Books 



A New System of Scientific Procedure. By G. Spiller. 

 (Watts & Co., IDS. dd.) 



Textbooks on how to do this, that, and the next thing 

 seem to be produced in great numbers nowadays. One 

 of the latest is a long one (200,000 words) by a Mr. 

 Spiller, and is highly instructive on the subject of pursuing 

 original investigation. Books of this kind are a verj' 

 modem product and, although greatly pooh-poohed in 

 this country, are in vogue in the United States, where 

 people are less cynical and sophisticated than here, less 

 contemptuous also of the possibilities of youth. Readers 

 of R. L. Stevenson's New .-irahian Xights will rememh>er 

 that when the Reverend Mr. Simon RoUes had stolen the 

 Rajah's diamond he found great diflSculty in disposing 

 of it because he could not find a textbook to give him the 

 necessary information. It was true he was referred to a 

 series of novels in which the ways of crime, including the 

 disposal of stolen property, were dealt with authoritatively, 

 but he could not help reflecting when he had read them all 

 how annoying it was that the information lie desired 

 should be " scattered amongst romantic storj'-telling 

 instead of being set forth soberly after the manner of a 

 manual ! " 



But that was a couple of generations ago. Nowadays 

 nearly every conceivable subject is set forth soberly after 

 the manner of manuals. From them we learn how to 

 double our incomes, to live to a hundred, to write short 

 stories, or merely to assert ourselves or gain charm of 

 manner. Some day, doubtless, a little series of books, 

 green with yellow spots in colour, will appear in opposition 

 to those of ilr. Pelman, teaching us how we may forget or 

 how we may reduce our incomes, for these are about the 

 only subjects one readily recalls on which a " How-to " 

 textbook has yet to be written. 



To return to Mr. Spiller. In his book he attempts to 

 ascertain, develop and systematise the general methods 

 employed in modern research work at its best so that all 

 who are thinking of undertaking such work may be helped. 

 The author regards it as an attempt at a modern statement 

 of Bacon's position in liis Novtdin Organum. He has 

 asked himself how best may the human mind be made 

 most efiective for the discovery of scientific truth, and 

 from a study of the work and methods of great men of 

 science, the great pioneers, he has tried to give an answer. 

 The author has set about his task with great energy and 



