XXIV] 



HOME LIFE 



415 



to live quietly as a single man, I was always on the lookout 

 for some permanent congenial employment which would yet 

 leave time for the study of my collections. The possibility 

 of ever earning anything substantial either by lecturing or 

 by writing never occurred to me. My deficient organ of 

 language prevented me from ever becoming a good lecturer 

 or having any taste for it, while the experience of my first 

 work on " The Amazon " did not encourage me to think that 

 I could write anything that would much more than pay 

 expenses. The first vacancy that occurred was the assistant 

 secretaryship of the Royal Geographical Society, for which 

 Bates and myself were candidates. Bates had just published 

 his " Naturalist on the Amazon," and was, besides, much 

 better qualified than myself by his business experience and 

 his knowledge of German, which he had taught himself when 

 abroad. Besides, the confinement and the London life 

 would, I am sure, have soon become uncongenial to me, 

 and would, I feel equally certain, have greatly shortened 

 my life. I am therefore glad I did not get it, and I do not 

 think I felt any disappointment at the time ; and as it 

 brought Bates to live in London, I was able to see him 

 frequently in his private room and occasionally at his home, 

 and talk over old times or of scientific matters that interested 

 us both, while we frequently met at the Entomological or 

 other societies' evening meetings. This was in 1864, and I 

 was too busy with my descriptive work and writings to 

 think much more on the subject till 1869, when it was 

 decided by the Government to establish a branch museum 

 in Bethnal Green which should combine art and natural 

 history for the instruction of the people. I thought this 

 would suit me very well if I could get the directorship. 

 Lord Ripon, then Lord President of the Council, was a 

 friend of Sir Charles Lyell, and after an interview with him 

 he promised to help me with the Government, while Huxley 

 (I think) introduced me to Sir Henry Cole, then head of the 

 Science and Art Department at South Kensington. I also 

 had the kind assistance of several other friends, but though 

 the museum was built and opened, I think, in 1872, it was 



