A ZOOLOGICAL ANECDOTE 237 



matter-of-fact purpose, and " gossipy " is the last word 

 that could be used of them, but his quiet (if somewhat 

 caustic) humour relieved the dryness of many a page. 

 He loved telling and hearing humorous stories Dr. 

 Guillemard remarks elsewhere that he laughed with his 

 whole body and he often passed them on in letters to 

 his friends. The following was written as a postscript 

 to a letter * to Mrs. Hugh Strickland dealing with the 

 legal terms of a bequest to the Museum : 



Here is a zoological anecdote. Mr. G. X. is very 

 ugly and hairy. He went to call at a house a few days 

 ago and found only a little gill in the drawing-room. 

 He began to say something civil to her but she would 

 not answer. At last he said, " You don't know who I 

 am ? " " Yes, I do," she replied, " I gave you a bun at 

 the Zoological Gardens last Sunday and, you naughty 

 man, you had no clothes on ! " 



Newton wrote with a blunt quill pen a firm and 

 distinctive, but too often illegible, handwriting which 

 frequently baifled the recipients of his letters : 



Magd. Coll., 



May 26, 1892. 



MY DEAR POTTER, 



... I hope we may see you here one of 

 these days, and you know you will always be welcome 

 in my rooms. Poor Babington makes very little 

 progress, and I doubt whether he will get about again. 

 His doctor assured me to-day that it is only a bad form 

 of gout a disease from which his very abstemious 

 habits ought to have kept him free but it is said that 

 he has been a martyr since his marriage to sweet 

 puddings so I pray you to take warning and believe 

 me to be, 



Yours very truly, 



ALFRED NEWTON. 



* July 6, 1878. 



