xvii] RESIDENCE AT NEATH 247 



elementary portions of physics ; and after a week in Paris 

 in 1 847, I gave to the same audience a general account of the 

 city, with special reference to its architecture, museums, and 

 gardens, showing that it was often true that " they did these 

 things better in France." x 



There was also in Neath a Philosophical Society with a 

 small library and reading room, in connection with which 

 occasional lectures were given. Sir G. B. Airy, the Astronomer 

 Royal, gave a lecture there on the return of Halley's Comet 

 shortly before we came to Neath. He recommended them 

 to purchase a good telescope of moderate size and have 

 it properly mounted, so as to be able to observe all the 

 more remarkable astronomical phenomena. A telescope was 

 actually obtained with, I think, a four- or five- inch object 

 glass, and as there was no good position for it available, a 

 kind of square tower was built attached to the library, high 

 enough to obtain a clear view, on the top of which it was pro- 

 posed to use the telescope. But the funds for a proper mount- 

 ing and observatory roof not being forthcoming, the telescope 

 was hardly ever used, owing to the time and trouble always 

 required to carry upstairs and prepare for observation any 

 astronomical telescope above the very smallest size. 



During the two summers that I and my brother John 

 lived at Neath we spent a good deal of our leisure time in 

 wandering about this beautiful district, on my part in search 

 of insects, while my brother always had his eyes open for any 

 uncommon bird or reptile. One day when I was insect hunt- 

 ing on Crymlyn Burrows, a stretch of very interesting sand- 

 hills, rock, and bog near the sea, and very rich in curious 

 )lants, he came upon several young vipers basking on a rock. 



1 In 1895 I received a letter from Cardiff, from one of the workmen who 

 attended the Neath Mechanics' Institution, asking if the author of " Island Life," 

 the " Malay Archipelago," and other books is the same Mr. Alfred Wallace who 

 taught in the evening science classes to the Neath Abbey artificers. He writes — 

 " I have often had a desire to know, as I benefited more while in your class — if 

 you are the same Mr. A. Wallace — than I ever was taught at school. I have 

 often wished I knew how to thank you for the good I and others received from 

 your teaching. — (Signed) Matthew Jones." 



