LITERARY STRUGGLES. 151 



" continues to profess infidel sentiments, but kindly per- 



" mits his people to be assembled, and himself listens 



" respectfully." 



The voyage to England occupied five weeks, and during 

 that time Gosse worked hard at the manuscript of his Cana- 

 dian Naturalist, contriving to finish it, so far as it could 

 be finished, before the ship entered the Mersey. In some 

 respects the voyage was pleasant, but the whole vessel was 

 stuffed with cargo, cotton-bales being piled even in the 

 cabin, leaving scarcely room to creep in and out. He used 

 to recline on the top of these soft bales, reading natural 

 history, and in particular Walsh's Brazil, which he had 

 found on board, and which fascinated him. At last Eng- 

 land was again his home, after twelve years' exile. He was 

 furnished with ample and fervid introductions from his 

 dear friends the Jaqueses in Canada to their relatives in 

 Liverpool, and by them he was hospitably entertained for 

 a fortnight. These kind people became sufficiently in- 

 terested in him to perceive his talents and to deplore his 

 poverty. They set themselves, with such slight means as 

 lay at their hands, to find suitable occupation for him. A 

 letter addressed to Mr. William Clarke, of Liverpool, who 

 had obtained for Philip Gosse the refusal of the office of 

 curator at some museum, — I know not what or where — 

 may here be quoted in full. It is a very characteristic 

 document. 



To Mr. William Clarke, Liverpool. 



" Wimborne, April 25, 1839. 

 " My dear Sir, 



" I know not in what terms to express, in an 

 "adequate manner, my sense of your most undeserved 

 "kindness; it really oppresses me. As if it were not 

 "enough that you loaded me with the kindest atten- 



