86 THE LIFE OF PHILIP HENRY GOSSE. 



distasteful to him. He, also, was fired by the highly 

 coloured reports of the emigration advertisements, and 

 thought that, as he was young and strong, he was sure to 

 make a capable farmer. Then, too, there^ was the charm 

 of the unknown ; of life under totally new conditions ; 

 the romance of what was then the Far West, of the bound- 

 less primeval forests. 



These are the only motives confessed in his letters of the 

 time, but under and behind all these there was another 

 unuttered even to himself, but stronger than all. He had 

 pretty well exhausted the entomology of Newfoundland. 

 It was a cold, barren, unproductive region. He longed to 

 try a new field. One of the numerous works they read 

 that winter — for they all three eagerly devoured everything 

 about Canada that they could find — was a pleasant volume 

 of gossip by a lady, in which she enthusiastically and in 

 much detail, although unscientifically, described the insects 

 and familiar flowers of Upper Canada. The account was 

 attractive enough to fire the young naturalist's imagination, 

 and thenceforth the time seemed long till he could wield 

 his butterfly-net in the forests of Acadia. 



The vigorous faith with which he calculated on success 

 may be gathered from an extract from a letter to his 

 younger brother, dated December i, 1834: — 



" Now I have a serious proposal to make to you, which 

 " I hope and ardently trust will meet not only your 

 " approval, but your warm co-operation. I ask by this 

 " opportunity mother, father, and Elizabeth to come out 

 " to me at Canada, not immediately, but in a year or tivo, 

 " when I have, by God's blessing, got up a home on my 

 " estate for them to come to. My plans I detail in my 

 " letters to them, and if they accede to my requests 

 " you must stay and bring them out. But if they think 

 " the undertaking too great, please let me know whether 



