426 The Zoologist — October, 1866, 



Johnson was fortunate in the friendship of a Boswell, the humble- 

 minded companion who made the great lexicographer a hero, who 

 kept self out of sight, except as a back-ground to make the portrait of 

 his friend stand out more prominently from the canvass. Waterton is 

 equally «/ifortunate in the friendship of a Hobson, a man who cer- 

 tainly believes in the merits of the departed naturalist, but who 

 believes far more religiously in himself. Waterton is exalted by 

 him into a king, but self is the real hero of the tale : it is " Ego et 

 rex mens'''' — "/and my king,"* from beginning to end, from title to 

 colophon. The very illustrations of the book, and they are generally 

 excellent, are replete with effigies of Hobson, and the anecdotes, such 

 as they are, almost invariably have Hobson for their hero : a man 

 possessed of this propensity, was sure to select as salient features of cha- 

 racter, not so much the points which ennoble Mr. Waterton, as those 

 which exhibit Dr. Hobson in a favourable and respectable light. Thus 

 the portrait of Waterton, as painted by Hobson, is toned down to a 

 degree that deprives it of all heroism ; and leaves it the representation 

 of a very eccentric and peculiarly silly country squire, a portrait against 

 which 1 must protest as wanting equally in truthfulness and vigour. 

 Here are a iew extracts, taken almost at random, and reprinted as 

 vouchers for the correctness of this opinion. 



" On seeing me drive up to the bridge in front of the house, the 

 Squire has, more than once, secretly crept on all fours, like a dog, 

 under the table, waiting my arrival in the hall, in order that I might 

 place my great coat, &c., &c., upon this table ; and whilst I was thus 

 unsuspectingly engaged, he has, in his jirivate retreat, commenced to 

 growl like a savage dog behind the cloth, and has seized my legs in such 

 a practically canine manner, that I really had no idea at the time, but 

 that some fierce dog was attacking my lower extremities." — p. 172. 



ITiis impressive scene Dr. Hobson redescribes at page 256, where 

 he introduces Mr. Waterton standing on one leg on the head of the 

 guardian angel on the Castle of St. Angelo, a feat our readers will 

 recollect, and where he tells us that he does so in order "<<? remind 

 and direct the reader's particular attention to a simply sportive freak 

 of his, already recorded, namely, his concealing himself under a table, 

 and imitating the growling rage of a savage dog when his years num- 

 bered nearly four score, which practical joke he not only excessively 



* The late Mr. Waterlon's love of Latin quotations is familiar to all readers of ihe 

 •Zoologist:' Dr. Hobson, in condescension to the requireujenls of his readers, 

 anglicises erery scrap in the manner here adopted. 



