12 
EARLY REMINISCENCES 
created a disturbance one Sunday, so they clapped him into the 
stocks, and kept him there for six hours [June 7th, 1866!]. All the 
school went to see the man in his durance vile, but the effect was 
rather spoilt by his brother taking round a hat, into which some 
bystanders were foolish enough to put sundry coins. 
The summer holidays found me again at Lyndhurst, this time 
with Buckmaster, but perhaps it was too late in the season, 
for we did not do as well as I had done on my previous visit. 
Amongst a lot of Amphipyra pyramided we got a solitary Catocala 
promissa at sugar. I remember that we were both much struck by 
the partiality of Phycis fused (carbonariella), a coal black moth, 
for the blackened places where the heather had been burnt the year 
before, whereas we found Crambus warringtonellus and C. selasellus 
anywhere on heathy ground. We had a glorious time, but: “Don’t 
forget before you pack up a lantern to empty it of oil.” So say the 
stains upon my treasured interleaved copy of the “ Manual ” every 
time that it is consulted. 
Mr. Wilson once took a party of young geologists from Rugby to 
see the museum at Warwick. In the train, Eison (now Sir Fred 
Wm. Fison, Bart.), a “big fellow” in the Sixth, and much venerated 
as our most promising “ stinks man,” remarking on the beauty of 
the country, said: “ How much jollier it is nowadays with hedges 
and green fields than it was in geological times, all striped with 
red and blue and green, with nasty great slimy beasts crawling 
about!” 
On the cold night of November 13th-14th, 1866, all in our house 
were roused at 1.30 a.m. by Mr. Wilson, and told to put on some 
clothes and great-coats and go into the garden to see the meteors. 
We were, it is to be hoped, both at the time and afterwards, duly 
grateful to him. Just as I reached the door some six or seven fine 
meteors were streaming together across the sky. These were quickly 
followed by others, singly or in groups, and for the twenty minutes 
or so that we were in the garden the sky was never clear of meteors 
for more than a few moments at a time. It was a quite marvellous 
sight, and although the learned said that the shower was not equal to 
that of 1833, certainly nothing since has come near to it. So great 
was the effect on the school that the new paper which appeared 
shortly afterwards was called The Meteor . If not always as brilliant 
as its namesake, its career was not so fleeting. 
During 1866 there are many references in the diary to Trovey 
Blackmore, and one to a mutual friend and neighbour the late 
Mr. N. Tuely; moreover, the correspondence with Mr. Ed. Cooper 
