289 
Jlitj youngest brutlicr Ifciiry^' joined his classes and tlioso of the 
otliei- I’rufessors at Cirencester, and laid the foundations of that 
natural history knowledge which has since gained for him the 
high position ho now occupies. 
A little over two happy years passed at Cirencester, for although 
ho had to labour hard, his work brought him into frequent contact 
with Nature, and later on (18G3) he wrote: “Our first term at 
thrcnccster was passed in a new world to us, and such a Avorld ! I 
would go back to it now if I could.” This delightful time, 
houever, was not of long duration. Owing to pecuniary difficulties, 
the result of mismanagement, the Council of tlio Agricultural 
College were reluelantly obliged to diminish tlie number of their 
staff and remodel the profcssorsliips ; and on the 21th July, 1817, 
niy father was informed that his tenure of office must terminate at 
Christmas. Tliis decision of the Council, which they e.xpressed 
with regret, came quite unexpectedly, and was most disappointing 
after the labour ho had bestowed upon his lectures. At the close 
of tlie year he left Cirencester, and at the age of 2G, without any 
fixed occupation or income, settled in London. Tlie Council of the 
Lotanical Society temporarily engaged his services, as did also 
I’rofessor Tennant, whose large collection of fossils (to quote Mr. 
I ennant’s words) ho assisted in naming and arranging “ with his 
usual acciu-acy and neatness,” and whose catalogue (published in 
1858) he subsequently projiared. 
During his residence at Cirencester he was subject to occasional 
attacks of asthma, which, though at first slight, gradually became 
more frequent after he had settled in London, and until the end of 
his days ho suffered more or less acutely. 
On the 1st July, 1848, IMr. Hudson Gurney having heard, 
through Sir Henry Ellis, then Principal Librarian of the British 
Museum, of a vacancy in the Natural History Department of that 
institution, wrote to my fiither, telling him he thought he might 
piobabljr olilain it. An apjilication was accoi'dingly sent in a 
tortnight afterwards, accompanied by testimonials from :Mr. Gurney 
the Dean of AVestminster (Dr. Buckland), Professor Sedgwick, 
(!. B. Greenough, Dr. IHantell, Murchison, Lyell, Darwin, H. E. 
Strickland, J. S. Bowerbank, T. Sopwith, Owen, Lonsdale, 
• Henry lloodward, LL.D., F.R.S., is now Keejier of the Geological 
Department in the British Miiseuni (Natural History), South Kensington. 
