MEMOIR OF PENNANT. 37 



while searching for materials to pourtray the charac- 

 ter of our British naturalist. His career, we have 

 before said, has been void of all romance, and may 

 be comprised in exercising his duties as a parent, and 

 active country gentleman ; while the vacancies will 

 be filled up by a perusal of the interesting works 

 which he has left, and of which we have now tried 

 to give a description. 



The disposition of Pennant was one of great ac- 

 tivity, a quality which was diffused over his bodily 

 as well as mental powers. He travelled on horse- 

 back, and in this manner performed all his tours : 

 he was an early riser, and was extremely temperate 

 in his living, refraining always from supper, which 

 he stigmatizes as the " meal of excess." 



His health continued unimpaired till within a few 

 years of his decease. The illness and death of a 

 favourite daughter threw the first clouds over the 

 serenity of his old age ; and soon after he broke the 

 patella of his knee while ascending a flight of steps 

 an accident which confined him long to his room, and 

 though it allowed him to pursue his usual exercise 

 on horseback, the bones never united, and he could 

 not walk afterwards without difficulty. In another 

 year his spirits seem to have improved, for he pub- 

 lished his account of the parishes of Whiteford and 

 Holywell, with the motto " Resurgam ;" but it 

 was only a passing exertion, and he began to decline 

 gradually. This was two years previous to his 

 death, and during that time he continued to revise 



