THOMAS ANDREW KNIGHT, ESQ. 57 



remark that my head and Davies Gilbert's are alike, and my 

 family made the same observation. Mathematics have been the 

 favourite study of my ancestors, so that nature perhaps made 

 me for a mathematician, and accident a naturalist. 



" I shall have great pleasure in sending you anything which 

 my garden affords, and you wish to receive, either in the autumn 

 or in spring, as you will direct, with models of my traps. Mrs. 

 Knight and my family beg to join in kind remembrances, and 

 I remain, my dear Sir, very sincerely yours, 



" T. A. K." 



The subjoined is an extract from the account alluded to of 

 a visit to the President of the Horticultural Society of London, 

 from the pen of Sir George Stewart Mackenzie, Bart., which 

 appeared in the Edinburgh Chronicle of September 1838, 

 describing the impression made on his mind by a day spent with 

 Mr. Knight, at Downton. 



" The venerable and talented proprietor of Downton, sur- 

 rounded by a princely domain of ten thousand acres of rich 

 and beautiful country, thinks of nothing but of what may be 

 useful to his fellow-creatures. He received us with that un- 

 ostentatious but kindly welcome which displayed the true 

 spirit of hospitality ; regarding a visit as a favour conferred on 

 the host, and not on the guest ; and which at once excites 

 mutual benevolence, that operates like magic in giving birth to 

 friendship. It is true, we had seen our excellent host once 

 before, and enjoyed occasional correspondence with him during 

 many years. But notwithstanding, on entering a house for the 

 first time, we felt a little awkward, as Scotchmen generally do 

 in such circumstances. In a short time, however, this was 

 brushed off by attention from every side ; and we experienced 

 with much delight the ease, grace, and kindliness of English 

 hospitality. 



" Our venerable host, active and energetic in his 78th year as 

 a man of 40, is one of those rarities among men, that know 



