322 THE LIFE OF PHILIP HENRY GOSSE. 



have guessed that the portly man with a grizzled beard, 

 who stood ankle-deep in the salt pools, bending over the 

 treasuries of the folded seaweeds, lustily shouting for a 

 chisel or a jar as he needed it, and striding resolutely 

 over the slippery rocks, was in his seventy-eighth year, and 

 still less that his vitality was so soon to decline. To the 

 rest of the family, who remained at Paignton, he wrote the 

 next day from his own house : — 



" Many thanks for making yesterday so happy a day 

 " to me, though I felt somewhat unwell last night, pos- 

 " sibly from exhaustion. It was delightful to see around 

 " me your dear selves and the sweet eager children 

 " engaged in diligent and successful search for my grati- 

 " fication. When you all come over again, you will 

 " think the tank a busy scene worth looking at. For, 

 " in addition to our captures of yesterday, there have 

 '* arrived four new sea-horses and several very fine and 

 " large troglodytes and bellis, all in capital condition. 

 " The Hippocampi I poured into the tank in a moment ; 

 "the SagarticB carefully seriatim this morning. And, 

 '* as I say, the tout ensemble is worth looking at. 



" Of our Goodrington lot of yesterday, the crabs are 

 " climbing about the stone, the long pipe-fish glides like 

 " a slender brown cord through the water, the little 

 "black-and-white cottits scuttles about, and I just now 

 " saw the goby creep out from under one of the stones ; 

 "while the crimson weeds and the green ulva give 

 "brilliant colour to the picture. The scarlet and blue 

 " Galathea lobster I don't see this morning, but no doubt 

 " he's all right. The children will be interested in these 

 " details." 



In October my father and mother^ under the stimulus 

 of a visit from the Rev. F. Howlett, Rector of Tisted, 

 resumed their astronomical researches on clear nights, 



