44 HISTORr of the SOCIETY 



ton, that to an ordinary man he appeared to be an ordinary 

 man, pofleffing a little more fpirit and livelinefs, perhaps, than 

 it is ufual to meet with. Thefe circumftances made his refi- 

 dence in Norfolk greatly to his mind, and there was accordingly 

 no period of his life to which he more frequently alluded, in 

 converfation with his friends ; often defcribing, with lingular 

 vivacity, the rural fports and little adventures, which, in the in- 

 tervals of labour, formed the amufement of their fociety. 



While his head -quarters were thus eftablifhed in Norfolk, 

 he made many journeys on foot into different parts of England ; 

 and though the main objec*l of thefe was to obtain information 

 in agriculture, yet it was in the courfe of them that to amufe 

 himfelf on the road, he firft began to ftudy mineralogy or geo- 

 logy. In a letter to Sir John Hall, he fays that he was be- 

 come very fond of ftudying the furface of the earth, and was 

 looking with anxious curiofky into every pit, or ditch, or bed 

 of a river that fell in his way ; " and that if he did not always 

 avoid the fate of Th ales, his misfortune was certainly not ow- 

 ing to the fame caufe." This letter is from Yarmouth ; it has 

 no date, but it is plain from circumftances, that it mufl have 

 been written in 1753. 



Wh at he learned in Norfolk made him defirous of vifiting 

 Flanders, the country in Europe where good hufbandry is of the 

 oldeft date. He accordingly fet out on a tour in that country, 

 early in fpring 1 754, and travelling from Rotterdam through 

 Holland, Brabant, Flanders, and Picardy, he returned to Eng- 

 land about the middle of rummer. He appears to have been 

 highly delighted with the garden culture which he found to 

 prevail in Holland and Flanders, but not fo as to undervalue 

 what he had learnt in England. He fays in a letter to Sir John 

 Hall, written foon after his arrival in London, " Had I doubt- 

 ed of it before I fet out, I mould have returned fully convinced 

 that they are good hufbandmen in Norfolk." 



Thouch 



