CONTINUATION OF HOME LIFE. 37 



bough, and argued that, for the sake of the robin, the tree 

 should be spared. The idea took, and the tree was let to stand 

 for as long a time as the robin should frequent it ; and so it 

 remains standing unto this day. Now read my moral. The 

 trade of botany may be but a holly-bush, yet so long as my 

 robin sings merrily on its green boughs I shall not throw it 

 out. Am I not very poetical ? Nor am I homeless. " My mind 

 to me a kingdom is," at least so far as my plants are concerned. 

 I have got the little room over the porch for my sanctum, and 

 there shall be snugger than ever I was, and may leave my 

 things in any sort of litter without finding that they have 

 been meddled with. Thou art right about New Zealand. I 

 never thought seriously of it further than that I have looked 

 forward to taking a foreign voyage before I finally fix myself for 

 life. 



I spent a week at Wicklow ; and during that short time I 

 added several plants to the Irish flora and a charming one to 

 the British. Dr. Hooker gave me a huge bundle of exotic 

 ferns, some of them the loveliest vegetables I ever saw. I also 

 slipped over to Edinburgh, where I talked anti-slavery and 

 temperance with S. and with Dr. Greville. 



After the death of Mrs. Harvey, the family no longer visited 

 Miltown Malbay ; instead of which, however, William was accus- 

 tomed occasionally to pass a few weeks with some relatives who 

 had a house at Kilkee, a watering-place on the same coast, 

 equally remarkable for its magnificent scenery, and offering 

 similar advantages to the lovers of algae. Nor were its cliffs 

 less rich in plants of interest, the banks of the path leading to 

 which were tufted with the lovely little bog pimpernel, perhaps 

 nowhere to be seen in greater beauty. 



His luggage on these occasions often excited the merriment 

 of his friends, the greater part being a formidable array of the 

 requisites for drying seaweeds, consisting of a quantity of coarse 

 towels and blotting-paper, together with boards for pressing, 

 which were furnished with leather straps and buckles. It was 

 amusing to follow him to the shore, see his coat thrown off, his 

 shirt-sleeve tucked up, and his bare arm plunged into the crevice 

 pools between the rocks, from whence he drew forth the rare 

 and delicate weeds so concealed under the green waving Ulvac 



