296 SIK WILLIAM KAMSAY 



and readiness to take part in and contribute to the 

 gaiety of others. That he often displayed a lively 

 humour has been shown in some of the quotations from 

 letters already given. One more example may be 

 recalled. In 1897 the family had all taken to cycling 

 and Kamsay wanted to give a bicycle to his cousins. 

 Instead of sending it to them he sent it to his aunt 

 (Lady Kamsay) with the following note : 



" 12 ARUNDEL GARDENS, 

 20ft Deer., 1897. 



MY DEAR AUNT LOUISA, 



You will receive a ' parcel/ it may be to-day it 

 may be to-morrow, which you will not think pretty, and which, 

 you will not find useful. You mustn't give it away ; that would 

 be to slight the giver, but you may lend it freely. One of its 

 advantages is that though there isn't much of it, the little there 

 is will go a long way. You can blow her up when she displeases 

 you. She is always tired and yet never unwilling to go. Though 

 she is entirely without grit, she has a good deal ot backbone ; 

 though unmarried, still she has two hubs. I hope you may never 

 have to put a spoke in her wheel. Etc., etc." 



In a similar spirit he took the trouble to write a whole 

 letter in rhyme to the daughter of a friend, Dr. W. E. 

 Adeney, who had apparently given him a hint that he 

 ought to shave. 



His knowledge of languages and familiarity with so 

 many tongues led him into frequent little jokes with 

 his friends. At one time he addresses postcards in 

 Latin to Professor Smithells in mock grandiloquence, 

 " Tibi gratias, o vir eruditissime, propter tuam epis- 



