92 
LIFE OF DEAN BUCKLAND. 
[CH. IV. 
Abingdon, the Rev. G. Wells, Rector of Boseford, performing 
the ceremony. The ringing of the wedding bells was 
the signal for the old man-servant to fire off a gun at 
Sheepstead Blouse, where Mr. Morland lived. The reason 
of this salute was not made known to the family till some 
days afterwards. Mrs. Buckland, before her marriage, had 
a beautiful white Spanish donkey, which she used to drive 
about for miles in a little chaise, in search of freshwater 
and land shells, of which she made a very fine collection. 
The animal, which was a great pet, had grown very old, 
and the servant had been told to make away with it, 
without letting the family know when its end came. He 
was much pleased with his ingenuity, therefore, in firing 
this feu-de-joie and at the same time despatching the 
donkey. 
The wedding tour, which was spent upon the Continent 
and lasted nearly a year, is described with much minuteness 
and vivacity by Mrs. Buckland in a journal which from her 
girlhood she had been in the habit of writing. Naturally 
enough her early entries have a geological flavour, and the 
scenery and associations of the spots visited are perhaps 
less carefully described than the character of the rocks. 
The diary, under date of February 25th, 1826, describes 
the visit of the newly married couple to Paris. They 
called on Humboldt and Arago, and had much scientific 
he mentions in one of his Ashmolean papers. This stone is said to be 
an Anglo-Saxon dedication stone ; the word aelegy aelegy-holy was 
repeated twice on it, and as the church is dedicated to All Saints, it is 
suggested that the word might have occurred again in the third line and 
have been broken off. 
