WALKS IN LONDON 77 



occupiers moved gradually westward, and the fine old stone-pointed 

 houses with their panelled walls and elaborate ceilings became 

 the home of the principal physicians and surgeons of the day. 

 Several of the judges also had houses there. Later still in Mr. 

 Balfour's lifetime, these too moved westwards, and the houses 

 were turned into legal offices and lawyers' chambers. Then 

 when we came to live there, Mr. Balfour having passed his ' four 

 score' years, ours was the only house in which a family was 

 resident, and ours almost the only children beside those of some 

 of the city clergy who played under the big plane trees in the 

 gardens." 



Later in life, when asked by the publisher of 

 Who's Who to describe his recreations, Flower gave 

 as answer, "Walking and reading aloud." He 

 delighted to walk both in London, in the country, 

 and abroad, with his children as companions. So 

 long as they remained in the family circle, and 

 whether as children or when grown up, they found 

 this one of their greatest enjoyments, as did their 

 father. 



At Lincoln's Inn Fields (Mrs. Shann writes), even through 

 the busiest times of his London life, it was our father's custom to 

 take a walk every fine day between leaving the Museum and 

 dinner, and it was our special delight to accompany him. 

 Sometimes it was a stroll along the Embankment or round the 

 gardens of diiferent squares. More often there was some 

 definite place to go to, perhaps to the fascinating animal shops in 

 the Seven Dials, or to Covent Garden market. Then we would 

 perhaps turn up some side street or court and enter an old 

 building, once a fine house in the days of Charles IL or Queen 

 Anne, with wide staircases and carved doorways, now half 

 dilapidated, dark, and dusty. But when we had penetrated into 

 some inner room, we would find some printer or lithographer 

 at work, as often as not upon the illustrations of a scientific 



