NE WFO UNDLA MD. 77 



conscious power to give it literary expression. From the 

 letters before me I will give one or two examples. On 

 January 12, 1833, he describes to Sam Harrison an incident 

 of his late return voyage to Newfoundland : — 



" Our passage to this country was long and rough, 

 "and towards the latter part very cold and uncomfort- 

 "able. An odd circumstance happened while I was on 

 " board ; one of the men coming up from the half-deck 

 " found sticking on to his trousers a living animal, which 

 " the mate brought down to me, that it might have the 

 "benefit of my scientific lore. The crew, not being much 

 "versed in zoology, could not tell what to make of it, he 

 "said, for ' it did not seem to be a jackass, nor a tomtit, 

 " ' nor, in short, any of that specie.' After sagely gazing 

 " at the creature awhile, I pronounced it to be a scorpion. 

 " It was about two inches long, of a light-brown colour ; 

 "when we would touch it, it would instantly turn the 

 " point of its sting towards the place, as if in defence, 

 " but did not attempt to run. However, we soon put an 

 " end to its career by popping it into a little drop of 

 "Jamaica, and the fellow is now in the possession of 

 "your humble servant, snugly lying at the bottom of a 

 "phial bottle. The wonder is where or how it could 

 " have come on board, for they are never found in Eng- 

 " land. I think it must have been in the ship ever since 

 "she took a cargo of bark in Italy last winter." 

 To the same correspondent he says, on May 25 — and 

 in this passage I seem to detect for the first time the 

 complete accent of that peculiar felicity in description 

 which was eventually to make him famous : — 



" Of all the sights I have witnessed since I began the 

 "study of this delightful science, none has charmed me 

 " more than one I observed this morning. On opening 

 " my breeding-box, I saw a small fly with four wings 



