AT THE OUTSET. 17 



subject ; and there it ends. In turn, I resolve to be a 

 botanist, a conchologist, a student of insect life, a micro- 

 scopist, an archaeologist ; and then, when each has gone, 

 very naturally relapse to my normal condition of pro- 

 crastination and dream-life, lulled by the singing of the 

 birds that I do love. 



