JULY 161 



1 The last infirmity of noble minds ' was afire at once 

 the appetite for fame. The little fish were tenderly 

 conveyed to the lodge, and before bed-time had been 

 corked up in spirits for transmission to Mr. Boulenger, 

 Father of Fishes, at his palace in Cromwell Road. 



Alas for the vanity of human wishes ! Next morn- 

 ing my host, happening to meet the head stalker, asked 

 him whether he had ever seen or heard of char in Loch 

 Ossian. 



' Never/ was the reply that quenched all prospect of 

 fame ; ' never till Sir Herbert put them in five years ago.' 



Then, and not till then, so treacherous a jade is 

 memory, did I remember having sent a hundred young 

 char from a hatchery to be turned into Loch Ossian. 

 I had completely forgotten the circumstance, and had 

 Sir John Maxwell parted with his stalker after it took 

 place, the origin of Loch Ossian char would have been 

 assigned to the far-off day when they swam on the 

 flanks of the dwindling ice-field. 



XXVIII 



Most plants that enjoy the faculty of producing 

 flowers or seeds in their first or second year climbing 

 of growth are content to do so at a few planta 

 inches above the ground, especially if they flower in 

 spring or early summer, before the uprush of stronger 

 growth takes place. Of such are perennials like the 

 daisy, the dandelion, and the primrose, and many 

 annuals like the summer cress (Cardamine hirsuta), 

 that irrepressible little weed that swarms in our 

 L 



