92 MEMOIR OF FLEEMING JENKIN 



dry bustle of the whole thing ' ; occasional visits 

 abroad on business, when he would find the time 

 to glean (as I have said) gardening hints for himself, 

 and old folksongs or new fashions of dress for his 

 wife ; and the continual study and care of his 

 children : these were the chief elements of his life. 

 Nor were friends wanting. Captain and Mrs. 

 Jenkin, Mr. and Mrs. Austin, Clerk Maxwell, Miss 

 Bell of Manchester, and others came to them on 

 visits. Mr. Hertslet of the Foreign Office, his wife 

 and his daughter, were neighbours and proved kind 

 friends ; in 1867 the Howitts came to Claygate 

 and sought the society of * the two bright, clever 

 young people ' ; 1 and in a house close by Mr. 

 Frederick Ricketts came to live with his family. 

 Mr. Ricketts was a valued friend during his short 

 life ; and when he was lost with every circum- 

 stance of heroism in the La Plata, Fleeming mourned 

 him sincerely. 



Letters I think I shall give the best idea of Fleeming in 



Claygate. this time of his early married life, by a few sustained 

 extracts from his letters to his wife, while she was 

 absent on a visit in 1864. 



' Nov. 11. Sunday was too wet to walk to Isle- 

 worth, for which I was sorry, so I staid and went 

 to Church and thought of you at Ardwick all 

 through the Commandments, and heard Dr. 



1 'Reminiscences of My Later Life,' by Mary Howitt, Good 

 Words, May 1886. 



