22 THE MUSIC OF WILD FLOWERS 



skrit College at Calcutta he read with much interest 

 a book by Professor Balfour, of Edinburgh, entitled 

 Botany and Religion, and he resolved, should he ever 

 return to England, to enter on the study of botany. 

 Some years later the opportunity presented itself. 

 Cowell found himself at Cambridge as the first Professor 

 of Sanskrit, and Fellow of Corpus. His health was in- 

 different and he was advised to take more regular 

 exercise. His friends urged him to begin the study of 

 wild flowers, and Professor Babington offered himself 

 as a companion in botanical rambles. Cowell, mindful 

 of his Indian resolution, eagerly adopted the suggestion 

 and set himself to master the elements of the science. 

 Exercise now became a delight to him. Indeed, so 

 successful was the new pursuit that the walks, we are 

 told, were not confined to Cambridge, but expeditions 

 were made to neighbouring counties, and holidays were 

 thenceforward made invigorating and really refreshing 

 in the ardent search for rare plants. In subsequent 

 years Cowell succeeded in collecting a nearly complete 

 flora of the county of Cambridge. 



His letters reveal how keen was his interest in herbal- 

 ising and how diligently he informed himself of the 

 habitats of rare species. Now he is searching for Colon- 

 easier on the Great Orme's Head, its only locality in 

 Great Britain. Now he is at Ventnor, in the Isle of 

 Wight, seeking, but unsuccessfully, for the scarce and 

 curious mousetail. Again he is delighted at finding, 

 near Shelford, a fine patch of the marsh-helleborine. A 

 copy of John Ray's Flora of Cambridgeshire, published 

 in 1660, the first county flora ever produced, which he 

 picked up on a second-hand bookstall, fills him with 

 enthusiasm, and he is charmed when he discovers at 



