iS53 HAPPIER PROSPECTS 



93 



my pay has been." And on December 7 he writes how he 

 has been restored and revived by reading over her last two 

 letters, and confesses, " I have been unjust to the depth 

 and strength of your devotion, but will never do so again." 

 Then he tells all he had gone through before leaying Eng- 

 land in September for his holiday — how he had resolved 

 to abandon all his special pursuits and take up Chemistry, 

 for practical purposes, when first one publisher and then 

 another asked him to write for them, and hopes were held 

 out to him of being appointed to deliver the Fullerian lec- 

 tures at the Royal Institution for the next three years ; while, 

 most important of all, Edward Forbes was likely before long, 

 to leave his post at the Museum of Practical Geology, and 

 he had already been spoken to by the authorities about fill- 

 ing it. This was worth some £200 a year, while he calcu- 

 lated to make about £250 by his pen alone. " Therefore it 

 would be absurd to go hunting for chemical birds in the 

 bush when I have such in the hand." 



