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MEMOIR OP CALEB B. ROSE. 
Swaffham, in tlie early part of the century, was a comparatively 
busy little market-town of about 3000 inhabitants, while the 
Union comprised no less than thirty-three parishes in an area of 
about twenty-six square miles. Pleasantly situated on rising 
ground, with a good market-place, wide streets, a tine church, a 
brewery, two banks, and an assembly room, the town was by no 
means devoid of attractions ; indeed it has been spoken of as 
“one of the handsomest in the county.” It possessed also a 
“divisional county jail,” and it was said that “the prison invariably 
fills as soon as the harvest is got in and work ceases.” To the 
south and west of the town, in those days, the country was wild 
and open, with large tracts of heath, and the Bustard, as Rose 
himself observed, was to be found on Marham Smeeth and 
Beachamwell Warren. There were then no regular roads to some 
of the villages in that direction, only tracks across the heath ; and 
most people rode on horseback. 
In early life Rose manifested great love for natural science, and 
he was especially attracted to the study of geology, which 
continued always to be his favourite pursuit. Shortly after he 
settled at Swaffham he began to form a collection, and the men 
who worked in the chalk-pits and brick-yards soon became 
acquainted with the fact, and with the value of specimens ; and 
they laid aside fossils and anything unusual which they might 
find for the doctor’s inspection. 
Goddard Johnson, of Little Dunham, well-known in those days 
as a sagacious man, and a keen archaeologist, was a frequent visitor 
at Mr. Rose’s house. Generally on market-day he came to tea, and 
there were great talks on archteology and geology. Nevertheless, 
sympathy was not always forthcoming, and it may be worth 
noticing, as a not unfamiliar sign of those times, that certain 
clergymen and others looked askance at the doctor because he was 
a geologist, for they thought him likely to have dangerous and 
unsound notions ; that in fact he might not believe all that, in 
their opinion, he ought to believe.* 
It was in 1826 that Rose first came in contact with Samuel 
* For most of the foregoing particulars, and for some that follow, I am 
indebted to Mr. Rose’s son, Dr. Caleb Rose, of Ipswich. I have also had 
the advantage of reading many letters from Rose to S. Woodward (1820- 
1837) ; these letters are now in the possession of Dr. Henry Woodward. 
