THOMAS ANDREW KNIGHT, ESQ. 9 



sought out of doors, we were by no means idle on a rainy day ; 

 and the manufacture of tackle for a day's fishing did not 

 altogether preclude attention from subjects of a more important 

 nature. In the evenings a desultory discussion on philosophical 

 topics, on which neither of us were very deeply informed, 

 served at least to awaken an inclination to be better acquainted 

 with them ; and in those early days inquiry was first made as to 

 the authors who could best throw light upon mineralogy, 

 chemistry, botany, agriculture, and the various branches of 

 natural and experimental philosophy. The flame once kindled, 

 excited great ardour in the pursuit of intelligence upon most of 

 these sciences ; and the quickness of perception and comprehen- 

 sion which marked the course of my friend's investigations soon 

 outran the ordinary course of study, and led him to commence 

 a course of discoveries upon intricate and novel subjects on 

 which his precursors had rarely bestowed a passing thought." 



Mr. Knight's mind,, from the earliest dawn of his under- 

 standing, seemed peculiarly formed for the enjoyment of a 

 country life ; and the part of England on which his lot had 

 fallen, was eminently calculated to draw forth and exercise the 

 latent faculties of his mind. Its hills, its valleys, its rivers, its 

 vegetable productions, its geological structure, and its meteoro- 

 logical changes, were to him objects of philosophical investi- 

 gation ; while the study of what Goldsmith so well denominates 

 " Animal Biography," afforded him constant delight and 

 amusement. 



In this manner Mr. Knight passed some years, occasionally 

 quitting his favourite pursuits to visit his brother in London, 

 at whose house he never failed to meet a society calculated 

 to exert the most beneficial influence on his mind and 

 manners. 



In 1790 he accompanied his brother, and his friend' Mr. 

 Townley, to Paris ; but the symptoms of the approaching 

 Revolution were becoming so fearfully manifest, that at the end 

 of six weeks they returned to London, and Mr. Andrew Knight 

 never again quitted England. 



