134 The Naturalist of Cumbrae. 



for him in the Isle of Man. To her, on receiving this 

 present, he wrote the followirig letter : 



" Many thanks for the beautiful book of sea-weeds 

 you so kindly sent to me. I have a great love for the 

 book of nature. It yields me inexhaustible sources of 

 pleasure, and opportunities of seeing and admiring 

 the beauty and extraordinary works of the great 

 Designer. No one doubts the genuineness of His book. 

 No one ventures to aspire to the smallest share of the 

 work. It has no apocryphal portions nor misunder- 

 stood passages. The smallest blade of grass carries 

 the unmistakable impress of its omnipotent Author 

 on it. The tiniest plant, far beyond the reach of the 

 unaided eye, demonstrates the beauty, the harmony, 

 the perfection of His works. How much more inter- 

 esting is a walk in the green fields or on the sea- 

 beach when you can recognize in almost every plant 

 an old acquaintance, and call them by their names. 

 A collection of preserved plants teems with impressive 

 memorials of the past and calls up associations of 

 happy days long gone by, bringing to memory dear 

 companions that shared in the pleasure of gathering 

 the specimens that are almost held sacred for these 

 friends' sake." 



When commencing naturalist, Robertson was 

 fairly well off for help in botany, but so far as zoology 

 came under his notice he was sadly to seek, as badly 

 off as the Germans in Greek in Porson's day. Two 

 friends, members of the Natural History Society, 

 John Gray and Thomas Gray, first enabled him to 

 find his feet by giving him the names of some of his 

 shells. He had not originally any express intention 



