Freeman's Life of Kir by. 3539 



ripe age of ninety-one he was gathered to his fathers. Among the 

 most agreeable incidents of the life of a naturalist, are those innume- 

 rable friendships which grow with his growth and strengthen with his 

 strength ; which are themselves the golden links of memory's chain, 

 and often the only ones which, in after years, lose none of their pris- 

 tine brightness. One of Mr. Kirby's earliest entomological friendships 

 was with Mr. Marsham, whose ' Entomologia Britannica,' a volume 

 on British Coleoptera, is well known to all our readers. We have a 

 most amusingly desultory sketch, from Kirby's own pen, of an ento- 

 mological excursion into the Isle of Ely, in company with this Mr. 

 Marsham ; an excursion throughout beset with dangers and disagree- 

 ables, occasionally varied however with a somewhat more propitious 

 interval, which, like the brief and rare gleams of sunshine on a show- 

 ery day, was all the more acceptable from its very brevity and rarity. 

 Every fragment of this narrative is agreeable ; even the simple asser- 

 tion that after " spitch-cocked eels, rump steak and green peas," the 

 wine not proving good, " therefore" that is, because the wine was not 

 good, " after ' Church and King,' ' Queen and family,' ' Wives and 

 home circles,' my friend [Marsham] soon goes to sleep, and sounds his 

 sonorous trumpet." At the end of one day's narrative the journalist is 

 somewhat facetious upon night-caps, a circumstance that brings to 

 mind a story which we have often heard and often told, but which the 

 biographer shall here narrate himself, episodically, by the way, for it 

 has nothing to do with the trip which Mr. Kirby is here recording. 



" It once occurred that Mr. Kirby travelled with two friends, Mr. 

 Marsham and Mr. MacLeay, on a similar excursion, and arriving at 

 an old-fashioned wayside inn, they were told there was only one large 

 room for them, with three beds in it : the arrangement having been 

 made for the night, according to the custom of the time, three night- 

 caps were laid upon the dressing-table : Mr. Kirby retired before his 

 companions, and was soon sound asleep. Perceiving no caps ready 

 for them, his friends enquired for what they considered the due ap- 

 purtenances of the pillow ; they were assured by the hostess that three 

 night-caps were laid upon the table, but they stoutly averred they had 

 not seen them ; the landlady no less stoutly maintaining her side of 

 the question. What actually passed in her own mind did not trans- 

 pire, but she appealed to the first gentleman as being the only one 

 who could throw light upon the subject, when, lo and behold ! as 

 soon as his head appeared, in answer to the hasty summons, the three 

 night-caps appeared at the same time upon it, one being dragged over 



