LIFE OF A NATURALIST. 
CHAPTER I. 
EARLY YEARS. 
Tuomas Epwarp was born at Gosport, Portsmouth, on 
Christmas-day, 1814. His father, John Edward, was a pri- 
vate in the Fifeshire militia. Shortly after his enlistment at 
Cupar, he went to Aberdeen to join his regiment. While 
stationed there, he became acquainted with, and afterward 
married, Margaret Mitchell, a native of the place. 
Not long after John Edward’s marriage, his regiment 
was ordered to Portsmouth. Toward the close of the Con- 
tinental war, militia regiments were marched hither and 
thither, front one end of the country to another. The reg- 
ular troops had mostly left England, to meet the armies of 
Napoleon in the Peninsula and the Low Countries. The 
militia were assembled in camps along the coast, or were 
stationed in garrisons to hold watch and ward over the 
French prisoners confined there. Hence the appearance of 
the Fifeshire militia at Gosport, where the subject of our 
story was born. 
When the Battle of Waterloo had been fought, and peace 
fell upon Europe, the English army returned from abroad. 
The militia were no longer needed for garrison duty, and 
the greater number of them were sent home. The Fife- 
shire militia were ordered to Fife, and took up their quar- 
