1 96 NOTEBOOKS AND COLLECTIONS 



reader has a genuine love for Nature ; if he 

 has not, it would be useless. 



A reverend friend, from whose knowledge 

 and experience I used to derive much 

 assistance, was wont to repeat with satisfac- 

 tion the remark of an old Scottish farmer, 

 who excused his interest in such pursuits by 

 saying, l 'Deed, Doctor, it keeps a man frae 

 becomin' dottled.' He meant that the 

 interest aroused by watching the operations 

 of Nature keeps at bay the dotage of 

 advancing years. My old friend was himself 

 a striking proof of the soundness of this 

 principle, for he preserved the light of his 

 intelligence bright and beneficent, until he 

 was well into his ninth decade. 



I shall take leave of the reader with these 

 parting words of advice, which are extracted 

 from the quaint old book called Some Fruits of 

 Solitude, from which I have already quoted : 

 * It were happy if we studied Nature more in 

 natural things, and acted according to Nature, 

 whose rules are few, plain, and most reason- 

 able. Let us begin where she begins, go her 

 pace, and close always where she ends, and 

 we cannot miss of being good Naturalists.' 



