8 
MEMOIR OF THE LATE ROBERT BALL, LL.D. 
of long standing; the other two are more serious affairs, hut will amply 
repay the labour of studying them, and leave the mind charged with a 
quantity of matter capable of affording enjoyment for the longest life.” 
The letter graphically compares the “out-and-out novel-reader” to a 
dram-drinker, and dwells on the injurious mental effects of reading de¬ 
voted too exclusively to common works of fiction. In 1832 he became 
a member of the Geological Society of Dublin. In June, 1834, he 
enjoyed a holiday excursion with Mr. Thompson to Arran, visiting, 
before his return to town, Killarney, Cork, and Youghal. Many obser¬ 
vations then made by these brother naturalists and friends were duly 
recorded by Mr. Thompson, and eventually published. 
While, however, his Castle duties went on daily, he was gradully 
becoming known outside of the “office.” His retiring habits did not 
prevent his information and abilities from being recognised by those 
who were able to estimate them aright. Such men were soon converted 
into personal friends, who were glad to draw him into their scientific 
and literary circles, and offer to him those graceful hospitalities for 
which the Irish metropolis has been justly celebrated. His life may 
henceforward be regarded under two aspects,—the official and the sci¬ 
entific. Let the reader “look on this picture and on this:” they are 
widely different, yet they each convey to us a true representation, not 
of the external condition, but of that which is unseen, and which con¬ 
stitutes the real life of man. 
The letters to his father during 1835, 1836, 1837, are numerous, and 
many of them contain complaints of Castle work. His duty there would 
appear to have been particularly arduous or unpleasant, for he states 
that he had offered a sum of money as an inducement to any of the 
other clerks in the office to exchange with him, and they had all re¬ 
fused. Nor was he more successful in his application to the Under¬ 
secretary, for that gentleman said the duty was so well done he must 
refuse to make any change. The most real and tangible hardship, so 
far as is apparent from the letters, arose from a stranger having been 
appointed, in 1835, to the head clerkship of the office,—thus extin¬ 
guishing the hope which Ball had entertained of ultimate advancement. 
Amid all this occupation Natural History still made her way to him, 
and soothed many a weary hour. His zoological knowledge was be¬ 
coming more generally recognised, and for months not a day passed 
during which specimens were not submitted to him for examination. 
He did not, however, allow “ the voice of the charmer” to interfere 
with what was prescribed by that sterner monitor, public duty. In one 
letter he uses the remarkable words (under date January 19, 1837):— 
“ Whatever may be my inertness and inattention to private affairs, I 
can most conscientiously declare that I have been the most zealous public 
servant I know, and have rendered really very important services, and 
never neglected any duty intrusted to me, or involved the Government 
in difficulty.” 
Disappointed in his hopes of advancement, and dissatisfied at the 
remuneration paid for his labours, he looked with complacency on every 
