A TORY OF THE TORIES 271 



much as possible. The pea-like similarity of his little 

 black silk ties must have mitigated his anguish in the 

 matter of what is now gracefully termed neckwear. As 

 a thing was, so it had to be, whether in habit of body or 

 of mind, and hence he did not readily adopt many of 

 the latter-day views in ornithology. Of all men I ever 

 knew he was the least carried about with every wind of 

 doctrine. Trinomialism was abhorrent to him — it cer- 

 tainly threw a shadow over his later years — and the 

 Turdus turdus turdus craze rendered him weU-nigh 

 speechless. I wonder what he would have thought of 

 cubism had he lived to see it ! Not that he was in the 

 least averse from new ideas in his favourite science so 

 long as they came, so to speak, with good introductions. 

 He held an open mind with regard to classification, and 

 indeed (good naturalist as he was) was quite capable of 

 embracing subversive, if not revolutionary views did 

 the* arguments in favour of them but hold water. He 

 welcomed, or was even the actual initiator of, many 

 new developments of ornithology, notably those con- 

 nected with Migration and Close-time, which I need 

 not enlarge upon here. But at bottom, as I have said, 

 he was a Tory of the Tories, and ofttimes, too, in rather 

 unexpected ways. One did not always detect from afar 

 the red flag which induced the vehemently taurine 

 attitude. 



With all his classical leanings Newton was not a 

 particularly " booky " man. Apart from travels and 

 scientific works, with which he kept himself thoroughly 

 au courant, he did not trouble himself much about the 

 moderns, but it would not have been easy to mention 

 any pre-Edwardian book that had won its way to fame 

 with which he was unacquainted, whether fact or 

 fiction. Thackeray was a special favourite. I cannot 

 now recollect whether he knew him personally, but I 

 well remember his description of a joyous individual, 

 Arcedeckne by name,* from whom, he told me, 



* This, no doubt, was Andrew Arcedeckne, son of Chaloner 

 Arcedeckne, who matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, February 6, 1798. 



