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diff --git a/36952-0.txt b/36952-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..74cf861 --- /dev/null +++ b/36952-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4360 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Addresses & Papers / Collectanea, by Peter +Eade + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Addresses & Papers / Collectanea + + +Author: Peter Eade + + + +Release Date: August 2, 2011 [eBook #36952] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ADDRESSES & PAPERS / COLLECTANEA*** + + +This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler. + + + + + + COLLECTANEA + + + * * * * * + + _DE DIVERSIS REBUS_ + + * * * * * + + + + + + ADDRESSES AND PAPERS + + + BY + SIR PETER EADE, M.D., LOND. + + _Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians_; _Hon. Fellow of King’s_ + _College_, _London_; _Consulting Physician to the Norfolk and Norwich_ + _Hospital_, _to the Jenny Lind Infirmary for Sick Children_, _and_ + _to the Norwich Dispensary_; _Honorary Freeman of_ + _the City of Norwich_ + + * * * * * + + LONDON + JARROLD AND SONS, 10 AND 11, WARWICK LANE, E.C. + + _All Rights Reserved_ + + 1908 + + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER PAGE + I. ON RECREATION GROUNDS FOR NORWICH 9 + II. ON TEMPERANCE AND AIDS TO TEMPERANCE 15 + III. ON TORTOISES—_With Illustration_, 1908 29 + IV. A FURTHER NOTE UPON TORTOISES 38 + V. MY CHRISTMAS GARDEN PARTY 44 + VI. MY CITY GARDEN IN “A CITY OF GARDENS” 53 + VII. PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS TO THE NORFOLK AND 72 + NORWICH NATURALISTS’ SOCIETY + VIII. ON ST. GILES’S CHURCH AND PARISH, NORWICH 90 + IX. THE TOWER OF ST. GILES’S CHURCH—_With 99 + Illustration_ + X. ON SIR THOMAS BROWNE—_With Portrait_ 121 + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The following Addresses and Papers on various subjects have been selected +from many others contributed by the Author, as thought to be possibly of +sufficient interest in their respective spheres to justify their +reproduction in a collected form. They are very diverse in their +character, and embrace a great variety of topics. + +It has been well said that all men are delighted to look back; and the +Author, whilst thus recalling past work, can only express the hope that +some of these Papers may have contributed, however infinitesimally, each +in their own way and at their respective times, to help forward the +appreciation of the then present, or the progress of the world’s welfare +or knowledge in the future. + + _Norwich_, 1908. + + + + +I. +PROPOSED PROVISION OF RECREATION GROUNDS FOR NORWICH. + + +Condensed Report of Speech in Norwich Town Council, 1880, reprinted from +the _Norwich Mercury_ of October 23rd, 1880:— + +Dr. Eade, pursuant to notice, rose to call attention to the question of +recreation or playgrounds for the children of Norwich. + +He reminded the Council that four or five years ago, after some +considerable talk with leading citizens, he ventured in the public Press +to call attention to the deficiency which existed in Norwich in respect +of recreation or playgrounds, and also of public baths. Ever since that +time the question had, more or less, started up at intervals, while +certain steps had been taken, which, in the course of time, would +probably result in something being achieved. But, as time went on, the +city was growing rapidly, open spaces were built upon, and he and those +who were anxious to see something done were passing away. He had, +therefore, taken upon himself once again to call attention to the +subject, and to ask the Council to take action upon it. + +After remarking upon the great importance now generally attached to +questions affecting the public health, sanitation, or preventive +medicine—for these were synonymous terms—and the intimate connection now +everywhere recognised between the general welfare of the population of +our great cities, and the absence of disease, with the consequent +reduction in the death-rate, Dr. Eade said that it was entirely from the +point of view of the public health that he wished to call attention to +this subject. The physical growth, the physical well-being, and the +physical development of the population formed a large branch of this +subject; and he was afraid that, with regard to this, Norwich could not +be said to be in the forefront of progress. Even since he first mooted +the question many of the open spaces which he then believed available for +the purpose had been built over or otherwise dealt with. + +Norwich, once a city of gardens, was rapidly becoming a cramped and +over-crowded city—at least, in its older portions; and in the new +portions no provision was made for the physical welfare of the +population, and no opportunities were given for the physical development +of the children. Not in a single instance had a good wide roadway been +opened up in the new districts; on the contrary, he was sorry to see in +one or two of the most populous districts roads which ought to be great, +wide thoroughfares, nothing better than narrow lanes. One most +remarkable instance was Unthank’s Road, which was being built up at the +lower part where it was extremely narrow, so that instead of being made a +great artery for the traffic of the city, it was converted into a mere +lane, and it ought to be called Unthank’s Lane—not dignified by the name +of road. + +No doubt before many years were over the city would have to incur a large +expenditure in widening that and other roads. How short-sighted, then, +was the policy of allowing such encroachments to go on! + +To show what bearing these points had on public opinion long ago, Dr. +Eade pointed out that even in Shakespeare’s time the question was raised, +as was seen in “Julius Cæsar.” Mark Antony, in his speech to the +citizens, first asks—“Wherein did Cæsar thus deserve your love?” and then +the reply comes (by his Will) “To every Roman citizen he gives +seventy-five drachmas;” and afterwards— + + “Moreover, he hath left you all his walks, + His private arbours, and new planted orchards + On this side Tiber; he hath left them you + And to your heirs for ever; common pleasures, + To walk abroad and recreate yourselves.” + +Dr. Eade proceeded to say he wished there were Julius Cæsars at the +present time desirous of making wills for the benefit of Norwich. He +then quoted the opinions of Lord Shaftesbury and the _Lancet_ as to +places of public recreation and their influence upon the physical and +moral welfare of the population, and added, that he fully agreed with the +writer in the _Daily Press_, signing himself “C. I. T.,” when he +wrote—“The city expects the authorities to guard the health and lives of +the humbler population at all costs.” + +Other towns had done and were doing that which he wanted them to do in +Norwich. Towns as large as Birmingham and as small as Falmouth, had +provided public parks, and many had more than one. Birmingham had seven +parks and recreation grounds, Sheffield four, and Bradford three, while +the latter town had lately spent £150,000 in carrying out what he was now +advocating. Norwich had a population of 90,000, and was rapidly +increasing and spreading on almost all sides—open spaces being constantly +taken up for building purposes. Though they had playgrounds attached to +School Board schools, he was sorry to find they were not available to the +juvenile population—that they were only open to the children attending +the schools during school hours, or a few minutes before and after +school. + +Norwich stood the very lowest on the list of the towns of England with +regard to this question of recreation grounds. They had waited and +waited until the difficulty of providing such places had greatly +increased, while if they waited longer these difficulties would become +almost insuperable. When he first started in this matter he could have +found, or had the offer of, several open places, but those were now built +over. He, at that time, took a great deal of trouble in the matter, but +soon found that notwithstanding the support given him by several +prominent citizens, it was far too large a matter for a single individual +to carry through; but now he had the honour of a seat in the Council he +claimed their attention, and, if possible, their powerful sympathy and +support. They might ask where was the demand for recreation grounds. He +asked those who had children to bring up whether they would allow them to +play in narrow streets and crowded courts breathing impure air? What was +the reason of there being so many puny, delicate, and small children? He +ventured to say this was almost entirely due to the unwholesome +surroundings in which they were brought up. He mentioned that in Glasgow +recently, one medical man lecturing in that city said that in one year he +had treated 330 cases of children with deformed bones—bent legs, bent +thighs, knock-knees, etc.—which deformities were entirely due to the want +of proper development and to their unwholesome surroundings. Much +superior in many respects as Norwich was to Glasgow, he ventured to say +that the same condition of things existed here. But the demand for +places of recreation was, he contended, proved by the fact that whenever +a plot of ground was cut up for building purposes, children crowded there +from all parts of the city to play, and this they continue to do until +driven away by the advance of bricks and mortar. Then, too, Chapel +Field, when it was open, was often taken advantage of by 500 and 600 +children and others, who went there for play and enjoyment. + +After making other observations as to the need of such places, Dr. Eade +said there were two ways in which the want might be supplied. +Playgrounds could not be taken close to every door; but in every new +district care should be taken to secure the setting apart of a certain +amount of space for the children. One plan he would suggest was that at +various points in the city a field should be purchased and thrown open to +the children; and another plan was to purchase or hire a large space +which might be converted into a people’s park, with a small portion set +apart for the use of children. + +It might be said that such places would really be used by the rough +portion of the population; but he contended that it was for just this +portion of the population they were most required. Let the rough +children be brought up to know the worth of fresh air, what it is to have +healthy frames, so that in after life they may not be poor and puny and +miserable. The very fact that the rough children of the poor would use +these places was an argument in favour of their provision. A healthy +body meant not only a healthy mind, but a contented mind; and with +recreation grounds for their use the children might be expected to grow +up amenable to proper and right feelings, and in every sense better +members of the community. + +Believing as he did in the doctrine of _salus populi suprema lex_, he +earnestly recommended the Council to take some steps in the direction he +had indicated. + +He concluded by moving—“That this Council, recognising the duty of +providing recreation grounds for the children of Norwich, appoints a +special committee to consider and report as to the best means of carrying +out this resolution.” + +A Committee of the Council was then at once appointed. + + * * * * * + +NOTE.—At this date there were practically no public recreation grounds. +At the present time we have the following:— + + Mousehold Heath, 150 acres. + + Chapel Field Gardens. + + The Castle Gardens. + + The Gildencroft. + + Waterloo Park. + + South Heigham, 6 acres. + + The Woodlands Plantation (given by Mrs. Pym). + + Lakenham and St. Martin’s Bathing Places and Grounds. + + Eaton Park, 80 acres. + +Besides the numerous smaller spaces and churchyards which have been +re-arranged and planted, and made both pleasing and (many of them) +suitable for outdoor use or rest. For the promotion and carrying out of +these, we are most largely indebted to Mr. Edward Wild, Mr. W. E. +Hansell, and the Rev. J. Callis, with one or two others. + +This and the next following Address were the outcome of the very strong +impression produced upon the Author by observing the puniness or physical +inferiority of much of the poor population with whom he had to deal as +Physician to the Norwich Dispensary, when first coming to Norwich, as +compared with that of the neighbouring country district where he had +formerly resided. It appeared to him that want of outdoor exercise and +the public-house habit were the main causes of this difference. And +hence these two subjects of Recreation and Temperance at once engaged his +attention, as they have continued to do ever since. + +How such views have now developed, and also that of the necessity of good +air and exercise for the young, in order to normal adult health and +vigour, is patent to all. + + + + +II. +ON TEMPERANCE AND AIDS TO TEMPERANCE. + + +An Address given at the Parochial Hall, South Heigham, in March, 1879, at +a meeting held for the purpose of forming for the parish a branch of the +Church of England Temperance Society, the Rev. J. Callis, Vicar, +presiding. + +Reprinted from the _Norwich Mercury_ of March 5th, 1879. + +The evils of excessive drinking are vast and widespread. As doctors, we +are constantly being brought face to face with them—in injured health, in +wasted life, in ruined homes. Much has been said, and will doubtless be +said again to-night, on these points; and the desirability of a +Temperance Society for this, as for other parishes, will be enforced. +But believing that our object is to promote temperance in every possible +way, I shall to-night allude to some of those social conditions which +necessarily have a great bearing upon this important question. + +Now, it is well known that much difference of opinion has existed as to +the influence exerted by fermented liquors when taken in small or +reasonable quantities, some thinking that in these small quantities they +are pleasant and practically harmless; others holding that in no quantity +are they either necessary or even free from injurious effects. Whatever +may be the absolute truth of either of these opinions in reference to a +limited use of these liquors, I think all are of one mind as to their +pernicious effects when taken in any considerable quantity. All are +agreed that drunkenness is a vice, baneful to the individual, hurtful to +his friends; while doctors and physiologists are unanimous in asserting +it to be positively proved that a too free use of them not only produces +the outwardly injurious effects with which we are so familiar, but also +gradually induces such degenerative disease of various internal organs as +undermines the health and materially shortens the existence of the +individual. With such a conflict of opinion still existing, our society +wisely declines to decide that which science has been unable to settle, +and opens wide her doors, and asks both these classes of thinkers to come +in. She invites one section of her members to do no violence to their +views of what constitutes temperance, or of the right way of influencing +their neighbours. She merely asks them to join this society, and simply +pledge themselves to practice and encourage that temperance as to which +everyone may agree. But she tries to speak more mildly to those who are +travelling in the well-trod road of Intemperance, which leads to mental +and bodily ruin; and she entreats them to embrace the only means yet +known which can save them from their destructive course. She asks them +to pledge themselves to endeavour, by entire abstinence from the +destroying drink, to save themselves from the miserable end to which they +are hastening. + +Speaking for myself and of myself, although a very moderate and small +drinker, I am not an abstainer. {16} But though believing that many +persons may take a small quantity of fermented liquor without being the +worse for it, I also know that to many persons even a small quantity is +more or less injurious; whilst as to others, I can but repeat what has +been so often said before, and I do it with the greatest possible +emphasis, that to many alcohol is a positive poison, unsuited to their +temperaments, destructive to their health, and productive of the worst +evils, both morally and physically. It is curious to notice, in passing, +not only that the use of wine is alluded to through a large part of the +Bible history, but also that the injurious effects of it seem always to +have been precisely the same in character as those which are so much +dilated on in the present day. Dr. Richardson, perhaps the greatest +living exponent of the physiological properties of alcohol, and the +greatest denouncer of its habitual use, speaks of its effects according +to the increased quantities in which it is used. He describes its +influence thus:—“In the first stage of alcoholism,” _i.e._, in small +quantity, he says, “it tends to paralyse the minute blood vessels, +producing their relaxation and distension, illustrated by the flush seen +on the face of those who have (in familiar language) been drinking, by +the redness of the eyes and nose,” etc., etc. This stage of excitement, +he describes as being followed—if the quantity be increased—by some loss +of muscular power, with disturbance of the reasoning powers and of the +will; whilst again a further quantity produces a complete collapse of +nervous function, when the drunken man, who previously, perhaps, had been +excited, talking loud, and staggering in his walk, becomes stupid, +helpless, and falls into a heavy sleep. And are we not all familiar with +the quotations:—“His eyes shall be red with wine”; “Wine is a mocker; +strong drink is raging”; “They are out of the way through strong drink, +they err in vision, they stumble in judgment”; “They shall drink and make +a noise as through wine”; “Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath +contentions? Who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the +wine.” “At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an +adder.” + +Those who have taken the trouble to read Dr. Richardson’s lectures on +alcohol, will see that the effects of wine, as thus described long ages +ago, are identical with those which he found experimentally to result +from alcohol at the present day; and the redness of the eyes, the +contentions and quarrelling, the loss of judgment, and the ulterior +disastrous results to the health, spoken of in the infallible Word, are +only too familiarly known at the present day. Nor let it be said that +wine is not the beverage of the multitude at the present time. For this +point has also been experimentally investigated by Dr. Richardson, and he +found that whatever the alcoholic drink, or whatever the adulterations, +the effect of these variations was insignificant, and that the real evil +results of drinking were always due to the alcohol contained in the +fermented liquors, whether these were wine, beer, or ardent spirits. But +the subject of drinking and its evil influences, both physical and moral, +has now been so long and so often placed before the public, that I shall +gladly employ the short time left to me in alluding to some suggestions +which have been made, with a view to assist in remedying the drinking +habits of the people, and to enable them to wean themselves from these +where no hope of voluntary or total abstention on a large scale can +reasonably be hoped for. These suggestions have been very numerous. The +first and most sweeping suggestion is the well-known one, which ignores +every other consideration but the evil effects of the excessive use of +alcohol, and proposes to get rid of drunkenness by rendering it +impossible to get the drink. Legislation tending to this end was tried, +as is well known, in America, under the title of the Maine Liquor Law, +but its success has not been such as to induce other localities to follow +the example. Again, systems of partial restriction, such as are known as +the Gothenburg system, have been tried, or proposed, in the form of a +Permissive Bill, such as has been advocated by Sir Wilfrid Lawson; but +neither of these have commended themselves to the judgment of mankind as +being the right solution of this question. The fact is social man and +mankind constitute a large question. Over indulgence is not limited to +the cravings of the stomach. Vice would not be eradicated by the simple +removal of beer, however much assisted by it, and man would not be at +once raised to the desired moral level were public-houses at once +abolished. And so out of this conviction have arisen the various efforts +which have been made, and are being persistently made, to attain, or +assist in attaining, the wished-for results by more gradually acting +moral means. These means, or aids to temperance, as I would call them, +embrace several distinct influences, all of which such a temperance +society as this is calculated to exert. They consist, primarily, in +diffusing among the population, by meetings, by speeches, and by +writings, a thorough knowledge of the personal evil which such habits +necessarily and inevitably produce; (1) By bringing to bear the +influence which friends and neighbours, so instructed, can exercise; (2) +By forming public opinion and rendering it so forcible that the general +mass of individuals must needs bow to its dictates; and, lastly, by these +and all other assisting means, endeavouring to strengthen the personal +control of self, and to make the individual himself contribute entirely +to, not only his own good, but, by his improved example, to that of his +neighbours and the community at large. I trust that through the force of +public opinion it will soon be thought by the working classes as vulgar +and as low to get intoxicated, as it now is by those with more advantages +of means and information. + +Much has been said and written about the influence which _education_ is +likely to exert in the future upon the habits of the people. There can +be no doubt, I think, that the influence which will be gradually so +exercised will be very great. A mind trained to better things will abhor +and revolt at the gross pleasure which it would otherwise have tolerated +or enjoyed. And we all (I am sure) rejoice to see that education is +being spread abroad in our land, and that the rising generation will all, +in greater or less degree, have their minds trained sufficiently to +prevent their slumbering in the lowest abysses of non-development, and to +awaken them, and to lead them to the knowledge at least that there are +better enjoyments in the human body and the human mind than the false and +injurious excitement of incessant alcoholic stimulation. But, +unfortunately, education is like a tree. It takes a long time for its +development, and the circumstances of the time are too urgent to wait in +dependence alone upon this agency. For all the while that we are +talking, the world is living and acting, and living under such conditions +that, if present customs are to be changed, others and better ones must +be found and provided in substitution for them. + +There is a population to deal with, a people largely and often +exhaustively occupied during the day, and so occupied, that a large +portion of it requires some relaxation in the evening, after the hours of +toil shall have passed away. In the country districts the difficulty is +less; but in the crowded districts of our large towns, where often many +houses, without any surroundings, exist, and these, when present, often +not the most wholesome or commodious, some means of passing the evening +in reasonable recreation are absolutely necessary. The richer classes +even, in large towns and cities, have felt the need of their _clubs and +meeting places_, and gradually, also, working-men have followed this +example, and have, in many places, set up their clubs of various kinds. +If anyone would like to know the demand that exists for evening places of +resort, I would ask him to observe the throngs of people who pour out of +the public-houses on their closing at the hour of eleven at night. It is +not to be supposed that all the frequenters of these houses of +entertainment are drunkards, are even lovers of strong drink, although, +from the constitution of these houses, they must necessarily drink to pay +for the accommodation they receive; but they use them as clubs, as the +only places open to them in which they can spend their evenings, and in +which they find the light, the warmth, the company, the newspapers, the +interchange of speech, which they crave, and which are there alone +obtainable. This view of the uses to which the public-house parlour is +applied, is confirmed by observation of what happens when a +well-appointed circus or other similar place of outdoor amusement is +located in such a town as Norwich. For although no drink, good or bad, +is sold in the building, yet it may be seen for weeks together to be +nightly thronged by a company of one, or, perhaps, two thousand people. + +Acting upon this idea, and on this principle, there have now been +established in many places public-houses without those elements which +render them undesirable. The Café Company’s houses, like to that +recently opened in Norwich (and to which, I am sure, we all wish good +speed), in which provision is made for amusement, for food, and for +non-intoxicating drinks, are of this class, and so are the establishments +of the London Coffee Public-house Association, and the Coffee Tavern +Company, and others. But a recent writer (Mr. Moggridge, _Macmillan_, +October, 1878) goes much further, and suggests the trial of the plan of +retaining the present public houses, while keeping their attractive +features, throwing the sale of drink so far into the background that it +shall be the least prominent and important part of the establishment. + +At present, of course, the public-houses exist only or chiefly in the +sale of fermented liquors, and not for the benefit of the frequenter, +whose primary object is often, at least at first, the enjoyment of the +public parlour and its society. The writer above mentioned proposes, at +least for a time, to convert them into veritable clubs, where fermented +drinks can certainly be obtained, but where they shall by no means be the +great and prominent part of the refreshment provided. He thinks that +then it might be possible gradually to wean a large portion of their +frequenters from their drinking habits, and gradually also to introduce a +better and more harmless system than now prevails. Whether or not such a +scheme as this is practicable, or even desirable, it appears certain that +in any attempt to close the present houses of public resort, other and +more suitable ones must be provided. + +Before quitting this part of the subject, I would desire to call +attention to the laudable attempts already made in two adjoining parishes +to furnish a sort of evening club room for the use of the poorer +parishioners. In one of these parishes, I believe, the mission room is +open for use every evening, and in the other a commencement has been made +by opening the schoolroom on Saturday evenings. For these, newspapers, +or reasonable games, are essential, and it is probable (as man is both a +hungry and thirsty animal) that if they are to be permanently successful +both food and harmless drinks must be obtainable; but whether tea and +coffee will be sufficient, or whether some of the various unfermented +drinks are required, which are described in a little book called, “A Book +of One Hundred Beverages,” I must not now stay to consider. + +In England and countries of similar climate, the recreation difficulty is +much greater than in more favoured countries, where the climate, in a +larger portion of the year, admits of the evening hours being passed in +the open air. Here, for months together, the evenings’ relaxation must +needs be within doors, and in many towns there is literally no place of +indoor resort but the public-house, and, perhaps, the theatre. + +A great aid to temperance will doubtless be given when, under the +operation of the Artisans’ Dwelling Act, or other similar legislation, +the character of the worst localities of our towns improves. It is +notorious that the narrower the streets, the more crowded the courts, and +the worse the houses, the more do gin-palaces flourish, and the more does +the population give itself up to the artificial stimulus of fermented +liquors. And the reason is not far to seek, for if there be an absence +of all comfort at home; if the house be small, and crowded, and dirty; if +the water be bad, and perhaps unsuited for drinking; if there be no bit +of garden in which to lounge, and to grow a few things in which interest +can be taken; if there be nothing in home to render this agreeable—then, +as a matter of course, recourse is had to that neighbouring house where +nearly all these conditions are reversed, and dirt, and squalor, and +crowding are exchanged for light, and brightness, and space. + +I have said that an English climate is less adapted than many others to +_out-of-doors’ recreations_ and amusements. Yet there is, even in +England a very considerable portion of the year in which the existence of +public parks and recreation grounds would contribute very largely to the +promotion of temperance by providing pleasant spots in which to pass the +hours unabsorbed by labour. But, I am sorry to say that our old city of +Norwich has sadly degenerated from the time of Pepys, and enjoys an +unenviable pre-eminence in the entire absence of these most desirable +public spaces within its boundaries. With the exception of Chapel Field, +we have not a single open public space. There is not a spot where the +lads can play at cricket or football, or where their seniors can lounge +away an evening hour; while as to a public park, the chance of this +appears to grow dimmer and dimmer as the population of the city spreads +and increases. I have ventured on more than one occasion to call +attention to the need of such places for Norwich, and I have pointed to +Mousehold Heath as a place which should, at all costs, be preserved for +the city. But time passes. Several available spots for public +recreation grounds have, one by one, been absorbed for building purposes, +and Mousehold Heath—a space which appears to have been specially provided +for the health and salubrity of future Norwich, and whose beauties and +capabilities must surely be unappreciated by our citizens—is being +gradually devoted to gravel pits, to brick kilns, and—to destruction. +And let it not be supposed that the temperance of a population has no +relation to its health and its general welfare. Beyond the attractions +of a fresh and open spot, as a counter attraction to the public-house, +the growth of a strong and healthy population tends powerfully in the +direction of temperate habits, for the feeble and weakly will naturally +seek indoor resorts, whilst the strong and the muscular will equally +surely seek the open air. I wish I could think that Norwich was not +suffering from this cause. But whoever observed the generally puny +appearance, the poor _physique_, and the frequently strumous aspect of +many of the children and youth received into our schoolrooms during the +late flood, and many of whom came from the most crowded parts of the +city, must have been struck with the evidence they afforded of the want +that existed for them of light, of air, and of healthy exercise. + +Lest I should be thought to be dwelling too long on a subject of little +importance, or little bearing upon this night’s proceedings, let me read +over to you a list of those places in England (and I am not sure that it +is a complete list) which, during the past two or three years, have +either had presented to them or have felt it their duty to provide public +parks and recreation grounds for the use of the residents:—Reading, +Birmingham, Dublin, Wigan, Leicester, Limerick, Lancaster, Heywood, +Derby, Wolverhampton, Leeds, Longton, Torquay, Sheffield, Swansea, +Newcastle, Exeter, and Falmouth. + +The only other aid to temperance, to which I will now allude, is that of +_public galleries of art and natural history_, and so forth. These are +but small aids, but still they are appreciable ones, and I would gladly +see such in Norwich. I do not know how far the disused gaol would be +convertible to such public purposes, but it has struck me that the site +is an admirable one, and the space ample for the collection in one spot, +of an art gallery, museum, free library, popular lecture rooms, and for +any other purposes which might properly come under the heading of popular +instruction. The former city gaol has long been used as a public +library. It would be a happy change if the late one could now be +devoted, not to the punishment but the prevention of crime; not to the +expiation of the results of indulgence in drink, but to the better +training of men’s minds, so as to teach them, by instinct and by culture, +to avoid the destructive paths of vice and of excess. + +I think, sir, I have said enough to show how large is this temperance +question, in which we are all, in which, indeed, the whole community, is +so greatly interested. In proof of its recognised importance, we may +point to the fact that doctors, physiologists, ministers of religion, +peers of the realm, and even a Prime Minister, have raised their voices +in opposition to the progress of the crying evil of drunkenness. Many +earnest men have striven, by the influence of their continued advice, and +by the example of their personal abstention from intoxicating liquors, to +help on the good work; and many others have done so in various indirect +ways, and especially by efforts to ameliorate the condition of the +people, and provide for them alternative means of harmless and rational +occupation or amusement. These efforts are so persistent and now so +general; they are founded upon such complete knowledge, and such +recognised necessity, that they cannot fail rapidly to produce good +fruit, and I believe they have already produced some good fruit in +Norwich. But as social knowledge ripens, as acquaintance with the means +of securing the general well-being increases, so we may hope that the +difficulties attending the reformation of evil habits will lessen; and +although we may not hope to see established a condition of houses, of +streets, of towns, of food and drink, of labour, and of all those +conditions which would render human life and surroundings ideally +perfect, yet continuous efforts must be made to realise for the community +such moral and physical surroundings as shall conduce to their welfare in +the highest possible degree. And to this end, let us be sure that +nothing will contribute so much as that soberness and temperance which it +is the object of this Church of England Society to encourage and +inculcate. + + [Picture: Sir Peter Eade with tortoises] + + + + +III. +ON TORTOISES. {29} + + +I have almost to apologize for bringing before so learned and critical a +Society as this, the few notes and observations I have made upon the +“manners and customs” of my pair of common land Tortoises, partly because +I feel that much of what I have observed must also have been observed by +other members of this Society; and still more because (as is well known) +that incomparable master both of observation and expression—White of +Selborne—has already noted, and placed upon record, the most interesting +of the habits of these creatures. + +Mine is thus necessarily a “twice-told tale.” I can only hope that the +never flagging interest which naturalists take in the observation or +record of the habits of animals, will suffice to make them bear with me +for the short time I shall detain them. + +I have in my garden two of the common land Tortoises (_Testudo Grœca_), +and these have been in my possession three and four years respectively. + +I purchased them from the barrow of a hawker in Norwich streets, in two +following years—one being a little larger than the other, and they are in +consequence known by the names of the _old gentleman_ and the _young +gentleman_. + +Although selected as the best from a number of others, I am sorry to say +that they both appeared to be ill or greatly injured, and it was a +considerable time before they recovered sufficiently either to begin to +take food, or to move about with their proper freedom, or with the +well-known liveliness of Tortoises! + +Another Tortoise, which I purchased, did actually die a short time +afterwards, having lived in a state of semi-stupor for the intervening +period; and I fear that the capability of these creatures for suffering +is not much recognised in the usual methods of their conveyance and +treatment. + +The two Tortoises which survived have, as I said, now lived on my +premises and thriven for three and four years. They have become almost +pets. They most evidently recognise the place as their home. They know +the various localities of the garden perfectly. They know the sunny +spots to which to go at suitable times to bask. They know where to find +sun, and where to find this and shade combined, when they so desire it; +and they return, afternoon after afternoon, to the same cosy, and dry, +and sheltered spots, under the dry ivy of the wall, or elsewhere, which +they have often previously selected as their night’s abode. + +It is very plain that they have some recognition of individuals. For +instance, if Lady Eade and myself are both preparing to feed them, they +will constantly leave me and walk off to her—doubtless because she is +more in the habit of bringing them their favourite kinds of food than I +am. + +They appear to be quick of _sight_, but show very little, if any, sign of +having any impressions conveyed to them by the sense of _hearing_. They +evidently possess a full sense of _taste_, for they discriminate +instantly between food they like, and that which is less palatable to +them. + +The daily _habits_ of these creatures are certainly very staid and +methodical, and vary but little, except as the season of the year, and +the warmth of the day, vary. + +They are often, in the height of summer, quite early risers, and on sunny +mornings will often be up, and perambulating the garden, and nibbling the +little trefoil leaves found amongst the grass, by seven or six o’clock, +or even earlier. But, I must say, that these early habits are quite +limited to the very finest weather; and it has seemed that in the matter +of early activity, these animals always err, if at all, on the side of +care and caution. They never leave their beds, or the neighbourhood of +cover, if there is the slightest appearance of cloudiness or rain, at +least until the day is well up; and for a large portion of their year the +time for coming forth is not until eight, nine, or ten o’clock. + +In electrical weather they are never lively, even though the day be +intermittingly hot and bright; and at such times they are often almost +lethargic, and show great indifference as to feeding. + +They appear to have an extreme and instinctive objection to rain. Cloudy +weather makes them dull. A passing cloud will make them discontinue +eating. And the passage of a person or object suddenly between them and +the sun will cause them as suddenly to draw in their heads. The dislike +of clouds and their accompaniments is therefore a very marked instinct +with them. + +If not fed, they will go and help themselves, not to grass, but to some +white Clover growing with the grass in the garden; or in default of this, +to some of the garden plants—by preference the fleshy-leaved ones, such +as the Echiveria or Sedum—after which they will retire to some warm +place, and bask in the sun. They have a special liking for the warm +vine-border in front of my greenhouse; and if the day be not too hot, +they will tilt themselves up edgeways against the south wall of the +greenhouse, or upon the edge of some tuft of flowers; or if the sun is +too warm, they will then cover their heads up with leaves or earth on the +bed, leaving their backs uncovered and exposed to the heat. (In this +respect they seem to remind us of the habits of the tiger in his jungle.) + +But they appear greatly to prefer being fed, and having their food found +for them; indeed further, one, at least, much prefers to have his food +held up to him, and almost put into his mouth when he opens it. + +They take their food with a snapping movement; masticate it little if at +all; and when feeding themselves, cut or tear it with the sharp-hooked +anterior portion of the upper jaw. + +In the hottest weather their appetites are very fine (thus they will eat +several large Lettuce leaves at one time), and they bear a close relation +to the warmth and clearness of the day, and the period of the year. + +Their favourite foods are—besides Trefoil, already mentioned, and garden +flowers—Lettuces, Dandelions, French Beans, etc. They are much attracted +by yellow blossoms, and greedily eat those of the Dandelion and +Buttercup. One of my creatures is very fond of sliced Apple, though the +other will not eat it. + +But the vegetable of which they are most fond is the Green Pea. Both of +them will leave all other food for this, and they will consume at a meal +a very considerable number of these Peas. Indeed, so fond are they of +them, that they will follow a person accustomed to feed them with them +about the garden, and will even try to clamber up his legs to get at +them. + +After sleeping and basking, they will again eat, and then again sleep +once or twice more during the day; but in cooler or doubtful weather, +they usually eat only once a day, and sometimes not at all. + +Although those who hawk Tortoises about the streets will often tell +purchasers to put them into their kitchens that they may eat Beetles and +Cockroaches, I believe it to be well understood that they are +intrinsically vegetable feeders; a position well put by Frank Buckland, +who says that Tortoises put into a kitchen to eat Beetles will in due +time die of starvation, and then most probably the Beetles will eat them. +Certainly ours never eat anything but vegetable food. But a Tortoise in +a neighbouring garden does every morning consume a very substantial +quantity of bread and milk, or rather bread well-soaked in milk, and he +appears to thrive well upon it. Our Tortoises never drink water, and are +decidedly not tempted to drink by milk being offered to them. + +Whatever the season, the Tortoises retire very early to bed. The warmth +and sunniness of the day appear to regulate the exact time, but they +rarely remain up after three or four o’clock, and in the cooler seasons, +or on dull days, they retire much earlier. + +They will go day after day to the same warm and leafy nook; and they have +a habit on rising in the morning of simply turning out of bed, and lying +for a time just outside of their bed-place, with their heads stupidly +stretched out, or staring vacantly up into the air, before entering upon +the serious business of the day. {33} + +I should say their _Memory_ is very strong. I have said they remember +persons. They remember places they know, and if carried away will march +straight off and back again to the place they wish to go to; and what is +more remarkable, when brought out in the spring after seven or eight +months’ hybernation, they do exactly as they did the day before they went +to sleep; and will march off as direct to the old spots as if they had +only had one day’s interregnum. + +As a further instance of memory or intelligent knowledge, we are +constantly in the habit, in the cooler weather, of putting them to bed +under a mat in the greenhouse; and we very constantly find them, in the +morning, waiting by the greenhouse door to be let out, clearly +remembering that this is the place by which they will have to pass into +the open air. + +They do not appear to care much for each other’s society—(I believe they +are both males)—but they do not fight. Neither are they respecters of +each other’s persons, for they walk over each other’s backs in the most +indifferent way, if either happens to be in the direct road of the +other’s progression. + +One of the creatures is certainly fond of climbing. We have several +times found him mounted (when shut up in the greenhouse) upon the other’s +back; or upon an inverted flower-pot; and once we found him in a most +pitiable condition through the exercise of these scandent aspirations. +He had evidently been endeavouring to climb up some flower sticks placed +slantingly against the wall, and in doing this he had turned over upon +his axis; and when we found him he was reclining upon his back against +these sticks, and standing upon one hind foot, whilst with the other, and +with his fore feet, he was making frantic efforts to reinstate himself in +a more comfortable position. As so placed he reminded us irresistibly +and ludicrously of a huge toad held up by a fore leg. + +Our Tortoises have certainly got tempers. They hiss when they are +meddled with. They resist and try to scratch, or otherwise hurt, when +lifted up from their place of repose; and they exhibit distinct +petulance, and will jerk themselves forward out of your hand when you are +again placing them upon the ground. + +They are also very particular when going to their evening places of +repose, and most distinctly refuse to go to rest in the place in which +you try to place them, however comfortable this may appear to be, even if +they have previously selected this spot for themselves day after day. + +Mr. Darwin speaks of a large kind of Tortoise which is reputed to be able +to walk at the rate of sixty yards in ten minutes; _i.e._, three hundred +and sixty yards in the hour, or four miles a day. I have twice timed the +rate of progress of one of my Tortoises. Once it walked ten feet in the +minute, and another time twenty feet in the minute. This latter is at +the rate of twelve hundred feet, or four hundred yards, in the hour; or +of a mile in between four and five hours. This truly is not quite the +ordinary rate of the hare’s progress, but I think they can cross a +certain small distance of ground much more rapidly than we should at +first suspect. + +Once more. These creatures distinctly grow in size from year to year. +Our two measure respectively seven and seven and a half inches in length. +And they must have elongated fully an inch in the three and four years of +our possession. + +I weighed them this year, on May 29th, soon after their waking up for the +summer, and again on September 8th. They weighed in May, 2 lbs. 7½ ozs. +and 2 lbs. 3½ ozs.; a fortnight ago they weighed 2 lbs. 10 ozs. and 2 +lbs. 5 ozs.; having thus gained in weight through their summer feeding 2½ +ozs. and 1½ ozs. respectively. {36} + +When the due period arrives in which they naturally bury themselves, and +so surround themselves with earthen bulwarks, and then retire for the +winter into their carapace castles, we put them down into a cupboard in +the cellar. + +Mr. White remarks that his Tortoise did not bury itself into the ground +before November 1st, but ours are cold and torpid, and quite ready to +hybernate by the first week in October. Probably the different latitude +and longitude of Selborne and Norwich may account for this difference of +time. + +In this cellar cupboard, the Tortoises remain until the end of April, +when, though still dull and stupid, the weather is getting sufficiently +warm for them to enjoy the sun for a portion of the day. But the frosts +and cold of this period of the year are still dangerous. And a relative +of mine lost both of his old friends (who for years had taken care of +themselves in the winter in his garden) during the cold weather of this +spring, after they had duly survived the far greater cold of the winter +in the ground places in which they had buried themselves. + +From October to April—fully seven months—they rest from their labours of +eating, of breathing, shall I say, of thinking? (or nearly so, for they +occasionally stir a little, and are found to have moved a little from +under their straw). But they neither eat nor drink, nor see light, nor +(I believe) open their eyes. And when touched during this time they feel +of a stony coldness, and certainly appear to have none of their faculties +in operation. + +But with the warmer weather, they again gradually resume the precise +habits of the preceding year. Gradually, their bright little eyes resume +their intelligence; their memory re-awakens; and they return to the ways, +and the habits, and the places of the preceding season, as if their sleep +of seven months were but a single night, and last summer verily but as +yesterday. + +They are in many respects both curious and remarkable animals. We find +them to have enough of intelligence, enough of quaintness, and apparently +enough of affection, to give them considerable interest in the eyes of +their owners, and to raise them out of the level of despised reptiles. +Whilst their remarkable construction, and mysterious power of +hybernation, render them specially worthy of study and contemplation. + +These specialities and peculiarities must be my much-needed excuse for +having troubled you so long with these few details of their personally +observed habits and ways. + + + + +IV. +A FURTHER NOTE UPON TORTOISES. {38} + + +In the year 1886 I read before this Society a paper in which I recorded +some of the observed habits and peculiarities of a pair of Tortoises +which I had then kept in my garden for three and four years respectively. +This paper was afterwards published in our Society’s “Transactions” (Vol. +iv. p. 316), and will probably be remembered by some of our members. + +I would like this evening to say a few further words upon these +creatures, which are still living and in my possession—more particularly +with reference to their _rate of growth and increase_. + +The two Tortoises have now been in my possession ten and nine years +respectively. Six years ago I reported to this Society that _they +measured_, the one 7½ and the other 7 inches in _length_. Now at the end +of six further years their antero-posterior measurements are 9½ and 9 +inches respectively—the measurements being made from before backwards +over the convex surface of the carapace. They have, therefore, each of +them, thus measured, increased exactly two inches in length in the last +six years, or at the rate of exactly one-third of an inch per year. + +(The under flat surface of the shell now measures 6½ and 6¼ inches from +before backwards. These Tortoises are said not usually to exceed 10 +inches in entire length.) + +Then as to their _weight_. I have now kept an exact record of their +respective weights in the spring and autumn of each of the past seven +years, _i.e._ their weight on commencing to hybernate in October or +November, and again their weight on returning afresh to light and more +active existence in April or May of the following spring. And it is +interesting to notice how almost continuously they have increased both in +size and weight; and also how corresponding are the alterations, or +otherwise, in the consecutive years, both of spring and autumn, of the +two animals. + +In my former paper, I mentioned that during the summer months of 1886, +when I first weighed them, _i.e._ from May to September, my Tortoises had +gained in weight, the one 2½ ounces, and the other 1½ ounces; whilst each +of them became lighter in the following winter by 2½ ounces. Since that +time the spring and autumn weighings have been regularly continued, and +the result is shown in the following table. + + WEIGHT + OF LARGER TORTOISE. OF SMALLER TORTOISE. + APRIL. OCTOBER. APRIL. OCTOBER. +YEAR. lbs. ozs. lbs. ozs. lbs. ozs. lbs. ozs. +1886 2 7½ 2 10 2 3½ 2 5 +1887 2 7½ 2 10 2 2½ 2 5 +1888 2 10 2 13½ 2 5 2 8¼ +1889 2 13 2 14 2 8 2 8½ +1890 2 12½ 3 0½ 2 7½ 2 12 +1891 2 15½ 3 2 2 10 2 12½ +1892 3 1 3 3½ 2 12 2 14½ + +In the seven years, therefore, 1886 to 1892, the larger Tortoise has +increased in weight from 2 lbs. 10 ozs. to 3 lbs. 3½ ozs.; and the +smaller Tortoise from 2 lbs. 5 ozs. to 2 lbs. 14½ ozs., giving a total +increase of weight in this period of exactly 9 ounces for each animal, or +an average annual increase of about 1 ounce and 5½ drachms (avoirdupois). + +The general result also of the above weighings is to show that, in +average seasons in England, these creatures gain from 2 to 2½ ounces in +each summer, and lose again a varying but considerable portion of this +increase during the ensuing six or seven months of hybernation; but, on +the whole, showing an average gain of a little more than one ounce in the +year—the average gain of weight per month in summer working out at about +6 or 7 drachms, with an average loss in the winter months of about 4 or 5 +drachms per month. This last fact scarcely agrees with Cuvier’s +statement that “during winter . . . their loss of substance amounts +almost to nothing.” + +It will be noted that the foregoing table shows certain variations in the +increases and decreases of weight in the several years; also that in two +of the years there was but little change between the autumn and spring +weights—this period of stagnation occurring in both animals +simultaneously. Probably several causes for this were at work, but I +have little doubt that the variability of our English seasons is by far +the largest factor in the case; and that the variations in the gainings +and losings of the different summers and winters depend very largely upon +the special character of these seasons. Thus, when the summer months are +hot the Tortoises eat much more abundantly and constantly, and +consequently put on (or rather put inside their skeletons) much more +flesh than in colder seasons. On the contrary, a warm autumn, with the +temperature not sufficiently cold to make them go early and thoroughly to +sleep, must conduce to greater loss, or rather waste, of their flesh, for +it is well known that these animals cease to eat many weeks before they +finally retire to rest for the winter; and necessarily during this +period, especially on sunny days in which (even at this season) they are +often moderately lively and active, they are doubtless breathing and +consuming some of the material which has been stored up for winter +consumption. Whilst again, in a very mild winter or spring they will, as +is well known, frequently wake up from their dormancy, and of course, on +each such occasion will make further inroads upon their reservoir of +nutrient material. + +It is therefore pretty certain that hot summers and cold winters are most +conducive to their rapid increase in size and weight; whilst of course +the contrary conditions would have an exactly opposite result. + +Cetti says that the common Greek Tortoise seldom weighs above 3 lbs. My +larger one now weighs 3 lbs. 3½ ozs., and is still growing. But there is +a Tortoise now in this city which weighs as much as 6 lbs. 5 ozs. I +judge, however, from its size and form, that it may be a variety of the +common Tortoise. This creature must be not only “an old inhabitant of +this city,” but thoroughly naturalised into a British subject, as it is +known to have lived in Norwich for at least thirty years. + +I have little to add to what I previously said (and to what White has +said) as to Tortoise habits and manners. These appear to be very +uniform, and to be guided by a most definite instinct; and it is very +noticeable and very remarkable how the two Tortoises will constantly both +do the very same thing at the very same time, often almost at the same +moment of time. For example, when feeding, even when apart from each +other, they will constantly suddenly leave off eating almost at the same +instant; or they will in like manner, when basking in the sun, both at +once get up and walk off to some other place; or they will both all at +once suddenly get up and march off to their evening place of shelter and +rest—and this without any definite atmospheric or other cause that is +appreciable. + +Cuvier has well called the Tortoise “_un animal retournèe_,” an animal +inverted, or “turned inside out, or rather outside in.” And it is said +that the large Land Tortoise, when withdrawn into its shell, “can defy +the whole animal world except man, from whom nothing is safe.” And with +reference to this point I have observed that our Tortoises, when retiring +to rest, always take the greatest care to protect their noses and the +anterior opening of their shells. When they burrow, their head is of +course covered up by the earth. But when, as is often the case in the +warmer weather, they simply go to sleep in some sheltered place, they +habitually place their heads close against the wall, or under the +projecting roots of a tree or shrub, so as not to leave this part +exposed. I presume, therefore, that they are conscious of some +insecurity, and it would certainly appear that their heads would +otherwise be open to the attack of rats or other predaceous animals. + +Professor Forbes describes the peculiar way in which he has in Greece +observed the Tortoises to do their courting, _i.e._ the method by which +the male Tortoise seeks to attract the attention of his lady-love, +namely, by repeatedly knocking his shell violently against hers. I have +noticed the same process in my own garden. Both my animals are, I +believe, males. But I have observed one of them, when in an amorous +humour, to strike the other several times in succession a sounding blow +on its shell; and this he does by suddenly withdrawing his head into his +shell, so as to be out of harm’s way, and then as suddenly throwing his +body forward by a sort of butting process against the shell of his +fellow. This proceeding causes a very considerable, and indeed, +comparatively speaking, quite a loud and resounding noise; and at first +sight these sudden and severe blows would appear to be more calculated to +cause corporeal discomfort or injury than to excite affection. These +very marked attentions are usually followed by the utterance of a quick +and soft, or almost whining cry. + +I will only add that my Tortoises show an increasing familiarity and +sense of being at home as years roll on. + + * * * * * + +ADDENDUM.—On November 2nd, 1905, after a further interval of thirteen +years, these Tortoises had respectively attained to a weight of 4 lbs. +and half an ounce, and 3 lbs. 13½ ozs. as compared with weights of 2 lbs. +10 ozs. and 2 lbs. 5 ozs. in 1886. They are therefore still growing in +size and weight. In October of last year (1907) they weighed +respectively 4 lbs. 2½ ozs. and 4 lbs. + + + + +V. +MY CHRISTMAS GARDEN PARTY. {44} + + +Norwich is proverbially a City of Gardens, and many of the houses in St. +Giles’s Street, including my own, are fortunate enough to share in the +advantage of possessing one of these valuable urban appendages. + +As regards the birds that frequent these gardens, the neighbourhood of +Chapel Field, with its trees and shrubs, is, or should be, an additional +attraction to them; but I am bound to say that I have not observed so +great a congregation, or so large a variety of birds, in Chapel Field +Gardens as might have been expected. + +My own garden consists of a plot of grass of fair size, with one large +apple tree in its centre, a double laburnum tree close by, and with +several other trees of good size on its confines. Some of the boundary +walls are covered with ivy. In my neighbours’ gardens are also both +trees and shrubs, whilst Chapel Field is in the immediate vicinity, just +beyond my stable yard. + +There is thus a considerable variety of shelter for the birds, and, +doubtless, a proportionate variety of food for them at the proper +seasons. + +In ordinary years, and in average seasons, the following birds come into +my garden:— + +1. Our constant town friends, the Sparrows. + +2. Blackbirds and Thrushes (a pair of each of which usually build and +hatch with me, though I am sorry to say that their labour and pains are +usually devoid of result, as the young birds are got by the Cats, either +in the nest, or as soon as they leave it). + +3. Starlings. + +4. Robins. + +5. Jackdaws (occasionally—from the neighbouring church steeple). + +6. At rare intervals I see a little Wren, or Tom-tit, busily engaged on +the above-mentioned laburnum tree, evidently getting a good meal from +what it finds in the bark. + +7. In the prolonged frosty or snowy weather the garden is occasionally +visited by the Missel-thrush, and now and then also by + +8. A Rook. + +In the ordinary way, and in open weather, the _number_ of my bird +visitors is not large, but in the cold winter weather, and in response to +my invitation, this number very considerably increases, so that at times +I must have had as many as thirty-five or forty feeding in my garden at +the same time. The increase of numbers is chiefly made up of extra +Sparrows and Starlings; and when it occurs the scene is often a very +lively one; the whole of the thirty or forty birds being often assembled +very closely together in active movement; and the grass or garden path on +which they collect is sometimes quite black with their feathered life. + +The prolonged frost of the past winter is fresh in all our memories. + +On January 6th, when I specially noted the assemblage of my bird friends, +we had had intermitting frost and snow for about five weeks, almost +continuous snow (with occasional yieldings of the frost) for a fortnight, +and a complete snowy covering up of the garden ground for a week, with +sharp frosts, and often low temperatures at night. There had been no +sun, and, therefore, no melting of the snow by the wall, or by the hedge +edges, and, consequently, doubtless the natural animal food of the birds +was very scarce and difficult to obtain. Some food had been thrown to +them daily during the greater portion of this severe weather; but for the +preceding week they had been fed pretty regularly twice daily. + +My usual _times for feeding_ had been about 9.30 (after my breakfast), +and about 2 p.m. (after luncheon). + +When first fed, the birds—beginning with the Sparrows—seem only to find +the food thrown out by accident, and would drop down by ones and twos, as +their instinct or sense of far-sight appeared to show them that there was +food to be had. But very soon they seemed to remember these fixed hours, +and many of them, especially Starlings, would then be seen collected on +neighbouring trees, or elsewhere, before these times, evidently ready and +waiting for what they were expecting. + +The Sparrows would be chirping in the ivy. The Starlings would be seen +sitting on the watch on a neighbouring tree or trees, and as soon as the +food was thrown down they would immediately begin to descend upon it. + +Yet not all at once, or without due and proper precaution and inspection. +First, the Sparrows—as the boldest—would drop down singly, but in rapid +succession. Then the Starlings would draw nearer one by one, and +carefully look down and inspect the ground. And when one had summoned +courage to descend, the rest would quickly follow. But, of course, the +slightest noise would make the whole flock suddenly flutter up again into +the trees, or into the next garden, as quickly to return when the alarm +was found to be groundless. + +After a little further time, a Thrush or a Blackbird or two would join +the group. Later still, always late, a little Robin—quiet, silent, and +pathetic—with its half timid and half confiding manner, would come into +view. Again, after a further interval, occasionally one of the Jackdaws +would appear upon the scene. And now and then, last of all, a huge Rook +would suddenly descend and carry off some large crust which the smaller +birds had left uneaten—reserved for more deliberate pecking at when the +crumbs and smaller portions of food were disposed of. + +The manners of these various birds differed strikingly. The Sparrows, of +course, would be first and boldest, and everywhere. + +The Starlings would often form a compact group around the outspread food, +one of them occasionally darting off with a big morsel or savoury bone. + +The Thrushes and Blackbirds would arrive quietly from over the wall; they +would hop about usually on the furthermost outskirts of the crowd, and as +near as possible to their habitual corner. And the Blackbirds would +waggle their tails in their own quaint manner, and perhaps give their +peculiar cry, whilst both Thrushes and Blackbirds would evidently +indicate their consciousness of superior manners and their greater +dignity, if not their actually more retiring dispositions. + +The little Robin, solitary and observant, would come nearer to the house +than the other birds; but his advent was usually too late for anything +but the bare dry remains of the feast left by the rapacious Sparrows and +Starlings. + +The Jackdaw would fly straight to the apple tree, perch upon it, then +suddenly descend and seize upon the biggest remaining morsel; then as +quickly fly up again into the tree and try to eat it there. In this +respect, in marked contrast to the Rook, which in the worst weather would +occasionally suddenly arrive and help himself to the biggest crust left, +but he would always at once fly away with it in his capacious maw. + +I am sorry to say that my garden party friends have displayed a very +considerable amount of selfishness. Each kind of bird, of course, +selects first the kind of food most appropriate to it. But there is +clear indication that the law of force prevails amongst them, and that +might carries the day against fairness and right. And it is most clear +that neither Communism, nor Socialism, nor Equality with Fraternity, is a +doctrine in favour with them—at least in practice. As long as there is a +good supply of the best eatables, my friends are most communistically +amiable to each other. But as soon as the available supply begins to run +short, then the most barefaced selfishness is the order of the day. The +strong sparrows drive away the weaker ones, or pursue them and steal from +them any dainty little morsel they may have secured and flown away with. +The Starlings dart at each other and scream, or go through continual +“fluttering duels” in their efforts to steal their neighbours’ goods; +whilst the Jackdaws and Rooks have no reserve in displaying their views +as to their practical agreement with Rob Roy’s well-known maxim. + +I have not observed either the Blackbirds or Thrushes to fight for their +food as the Sparrows and Starlings do. + +The Starlings exhibit some other very peculiar ways. Before descending +to feed they will sit upon neighbouring trees in an attitude of pensive +watchfulness—one irresistibly reminding one of an old man leaning his +head upon one side and resting it upon his hand. Their peculiar waddling +walk or run and extreme liveliness of manner are well known; but when all +the food is gone, and they return for a short season to their trees, they +will often resume their philosophic or contemplative attitude—very soon, +however, to disappear to “other fields and pastures new,” or in plain +English, to some neighbouring and equally hospitable garden. And their +capacity for food appears to be very great. + +The _kinds of food_ which I have thrown to my feathered friends have been +bread and large crusts, oats, the refuse of meals, scraps of meat, bones +of fish or fowls, herring skins, cheese rinds, portions of fat; and I +have found that the animal matters are very greedily seized upon by +nearly all of them, scarcely excepting the Sparrows. And it is +remarkable what large bones of fish or fowl are rapidly and entirely +disposed of; whilst still larger bones from a joint are picked and +cleaned to the last available particle. Like bird-cannibals that they +are, I observed that some bones from my Christmas Turkey thrown out to +them, appeared to be very specially and particularly relished by them. +When very hungry, not only will Sparrows eat some kinds of animal food; +but Robins, Starlings, and Jackdaws will all eat bread crumbs and bread +crusts. + +It is sad to think what a mixed world this is even for birds; and that +even such a happy and interesting town gathering as I have described is +not without its drawback, and this a very serious one. + +Whilst the birds are making the most of their opportunities, gratifying +their natural tastes, and exhibiting their peculiarities, a Nemesis, or +vengeful fate, is constantly hanging over them, ever ready to overtake +them in case of any relaxation of their habitual watchfulness, in the +case of our own or neighbours’ Cats. For these fat and feline creatures +seem to be on the watch for their own good Christmas bird cheer; and with +crouching, stealthy steps, and wagging tails, they actually do now and +again succeed in stealing upon their unsuspecting victims, and in +illustrating the inexorable law, as to food, of animal-feeding creatures. + +It is pitiful to see a Sparrow or a Blackbird thus hopelessly engaged in +the clutches of a Cat; and it is a sad interruption or ending of the +scene of joy, if not always of harmony, I have just described. + +Our own pet Cat, though over fed, cannot resist the temptation of thus +stealing upon these birds when the chance occurs, and its excited +movements when watching them through a window, but unable to get out, are +a study in themselves. + +To a certain extent the Starlings have now and then a sort of sentimental +revenge; for when very hungry these bold birds will descend into the +kitchen yard close to the house, and carry off bones and scraps placed +there for the use of the said Cat, who has been seen to watch their theft +of its food through the kitchen window in a state of trembling but +helpless excitement, and evidently of intense disgust. + +During all the time of my feedings I could but notice the wonderful +instinct which the birds exhibit, of discovering the presence of food. +Sparrows are everywhere, and therefore it is not surprising that our home +friends should be on the alert, and should quickly descend upon the feast +prepared for them. But how do their neighbours and more distant friends +so quickly know of it? How do the Starlings, who are not usually so near +at hand, discover the good things available for them? How does the +Jackdaw in the steeple learn of the meat or bones thrown upon the garden +path? Or the Rook in the distant tree or field of the large crust which +the lesser birds have been unable to dispose of? + +It is clear that neither sight nor sound, as we understand them, would be +sufficient to inform and direct them; and that the most delicate sense of +such perception would be insufficient to enable them to perceive food +placed, say, behind a garden wall. + +I have observed that the birds usually arrive pretty constantly in the +following order:—Sparrows, Starlings, Thrushes, Blackbirds, Robins, +Jackdaws, Rook; though sometimes neither Jackdaws nor Rook will appear, +and often the little Robin is so extremely late in his arrival that all +the suitable food is eaten up. + +The Tit, or Wren, or occasional Finch, seen now and then in the garden +does not condescend to join or associate with such a mixed Christmas +party as I have described, but comes at his own time, and in his own way. +But these little birds have lately been such rare visitors, that I have +not had the opportunity of making any exact observations upon their +manners and customs in the parish of St. Giles. + +I should scarcely have ventured to read these very simple and very +superficial notes to this Naturalists’ Society this evening had I not had +reason to believe that they would form the starting-point of far more +scientific information about birds from one or more of its members now +present. + + * * * * * + +NOTE, 1907.—Some other birds have occasionally visited my garden, such as +Nuthatches, Redwings, Blackheaded Gulls, and a few others. As to the +Gulls, in January, 1907, after a very heavy and prolonged fall of snow, +some fifty or sixty of these birds, in their winter plumage, visited my +garden and greedily fed upon food (bread or animal) thrown out to them. +And almost filling, as they did, the grass plot, they formed a very +beautiful sight. Some of these birds in their food-hunting would come +almost up to the drawing-room window. + + + + +VI. +MY CITY GARDEN IN A “CITY OF GARDENS.” {53} + + +Norwich has long been known by the designation of a “City of Gardens.” +How long I know not, but we do know that Evelyn, on his visit to Norwich +in 1671, spoke of the “flower gardens in which all the inhabitants +excel.” He also wrote in his diary that at this visit he went to see Sir +Thomas Browne, whose “whole house and garden was a paradise and cabinet +of rarities.” This garden, I believe, at that time extended from his +house in the Market Place (where the late Savings Bank stood) to at least +as far as the present Orford Hill, but no portion of it now remains. + +It is much to be regretted that so many of the old Norwich gardens have +fallen a prey to the requirements or encroachments of the builder; and +that where ample space and air for flowers and shrubs, and even trees, +formerly existed, there is now nothing but manufactories or houses with +small back premises, or at the most, little gardens so surrounded by +walls as to be little more than wells, with stagnant air and frequent +showers of chimney blacks. Still, in spite of the rapid increase of the +city, and the gradual absorption of building spaces, we are glad to know +that—even in the central parts of the city—some of the old gardens do yet +remain, and that they are still able to produce much floral beauty, and +in many other ways to contribute to the interest and pleasure of those +who are fortunate enough to possess them. + +Of course, my present reference is only to gardens situated in the older +parts of Norwich. Those who live in our suburbs will doubtless be able +to cultivate and utilise their present gardens as the citizens of Norwich +did theirs in the “good old times.” + +I am glad to say that I (in common with others dwelling in St. Giles’s +Street and on St. Giles’s Plain) am still one of the residents in older +Norwich with a garden of considerable size. And in my case this +advantage is considerably enhanced by the immediate proximity of Chapel +Field. For this large open space of seven acres not only provides a +great circulation of air, and so a more healthy vegetation, but also—by +its numerous and lofty trees—invites a large amount of varied and varying +bird-life. + +As I have now been a dweller in St. Giles’s for many years, it has +occurred to me that a few current notes—however imperfect and +superficial—on the capabilities and possibilities of such a central city +garden, as illustrated by these, might possibly be an acceptable +contribution to the proceedings of this our Norwich “Naturalists’ +Society.” + +The real object of the paper is to show in a simple way what a large +field these home city gardens, according to their size, may still afford +for observation and intelligent amusement; and how even in the limited +space and depreciated air, which naturally belong to many of them, they +yet afford great opportunities for the observation of both vegetable and +animal life. The simple grass-plots themselves, however small, when +carefully tended and shaven, are in themselves a constant source of +pleasurable satisfaction; whilst the very worms which inhabit them, and +the birds which feed on these, afford much room for study of some of +nature’s methods and instinctive tendencies. + +Doubtless the larger space which I possess gives wider opportunities than +smaller gardens. But these must be small indeed which do not offer full +repayment for observation of the varied life which exists within them, or +which may be imported into them. + +My garden is about 60 yards in length, by about 26 yards in width. It +runs nearly north and south. It has walls of varying height on its +several sides. Near to the house these are covered on one side by +trained wisteria and white and yellow jessamine, but the greater part of +the other portions is covered with ivy. The area of the ground is +principally laid with grass, with a broad gravel walk around it. + +Under the east wall is a long terraced rockery, well covered with +suitable plants; and along the west wall runs a broader bed devoted to +very small shrubs and to flowers. The south end, under a stable wall, +contains some very ancient and still productive apple trees, also two or +three beech trees, and an old pink May-tree, under the shade of which +some of the commoner ferns flourish abundantly. + +A vinery, and a verandah utilised as a summer conservatory, complete this +note of the arrangements of my city garden, and from this brief record it +will be seen that an effort has been made to make every use of the +available space and of its several possibilities. + +I do not propose to detain you with any detailed account of the flowers +and plants which can be grown, or which flourish fairly at the present +date in this limited city garden. There are many which are hopeless by +reason of the city air and city soil. And I have found the more delicate +flowers to be so uncertain as to be scarcely worth the trouble of +planting out. Others again fall inevitable victims to the myriads of +autumn slugs. But spring bulbs, the autumn hardy flowers, and some +annuals, as well as the robuster ferns, do well, and fully repay the +trouble of cultivation. + +As to ferns, in my former and more open garden higher up the street, I +once had as many as forty different varieties growing abroad; but, of +course, these gradually died out, so that at the end of four or five +years only the common and hardier sorts remained. Some of these, which +were removed, are still very fine specimens, and have lasted in their new +home, as such, for many years. + +It would have been very interesting had any list or catalogue of Sir +Thomas Browne’s “paradise” of vegetable rarities been left to us, for a +comparison of the possibilities of a city garden two hundred years ago +with those of the present day, but none such is known to exist. + +I have mentioned the fact that several old apple trees exist in my +garden, possibly as old as the house itself, which is understood to have +been built 160 or 170 years ago. And I would just mention here that +beyond the roof of my stable buildings, and seen conspicuously from my +garden, rises—nay, towers up towards the sky, that grand old +Aspen-poplar, which is, perhaps, the greatest ornament of the adjacent +Chapel Field, though I think scarcely adequately appreciated. This tree +has a girth of some 15 feet about a yard above the ground, is 90 to 100 +feet high, and was so remarkable even fifty-eight years ago as to have +been then pictured by Grigor, in his “Eastern Arboretum,” as one of the +most notable trees in this district. In its later state a photographic +sketch of it is given in my book on St. Giles’s parish, published in +1886, although I fear that this scarcely adequately pictures its +grandeur. {57} + +Blomfield states that the great avenue of elm trees in Chapel Field, also +partly visible from my garden, was planted in 1746 by Sir Thomas +Churchman, who is understood to have then lived in my present house, and +who, I believe, then hired the open Chapel Field of the Norwich +Corporation. It may be interesting to state here that some three or four +years ago one of the largest of that row of elm trees was blown down in a +gale. When this tree was sawn across, I took the trouble to count the +rings which this section displayed. The outer ones were so thin and +irregular that it was not possible to tell their number quite exactly, +but as nearly as I could count the total number was between 140 and 150. +This number, added to the few which would exist on the young tree when +planted, would give a date approximating very closely to that assigned by +Blomfield. This is an interesting historical fact, though, perhaps, +somewhat irrelevant, and its mention will, I hope, be excused on this +ground. + +In my own garden the various trees appear to be healthy, but some of them +increase very slowly. A small pear tree planted against the ivy-covered +wall some twenty years ago is scarcely larger than when planted there, +even although it every year sends out a full quantity of fresh green +shoots. And a pink thorn tree, transplanted into it a few years ago, +actually remained perfectly quiescent, as if dead, for a whole year, and +then resumed vitality and growth. It is now a vigorous healthy tree, +sending forth every year its normal shoots and blossoms. + +ANIMAL LIFE.—Such a garden as mine affords a considerable opportunity for +observing the ways, and habits, and manners of many _animals_, none of +which are uninteresting. Shall I weary you by mentioning the _cats_, +which so often make it their playground, and their afternoon as well as +their nightly meeting-place? Although I cannot say that _caterwauling_ +is harmonious, or equivalent to the strains of the bands which so +agreeably discourse music in the adjacent Chapel Field on summer +evenings, yet there is much of interest, as well as amusement, to be +derived from noting the varied yet distinct language, and from watching +the very curious customs of the cats themselves, familiar as these may be +to all of us. I am favoured with visits of cats of all sizes and all +colours—black, grey, cyprus, sandy, grey and white, and almost all +intermediate shades. And it is certainly curious to watch the +manifestations of their loves and their hates, their friendliness and +their jealousies, their sunny enjoyments and their predatory instincts, +and their methods of attack and defence. These latter, though often very +noisy, by no means necessarily consist in open fighting, but are very +commonly carried on by what Mr. C. Morris calls the mentality of +latter-day life. These hostile cats (as you have probably observed) will +very constantly settle their relative superiority, not by biting and +scratching, or actual fighting, but by what is actually a “staring +match,” in which the influence of mind over matter is well demonstrated. +They place themselves a few feet apart, and stare at each other, until +one of them confesses himself beaten, by slowly backing away from his +opponent, and then suddenly turning round and running away. This is a +form of duelling which might well be copied in human life; and, still +more, might properly be adopted in the case of nations, where “mental” +arbitration, from a steady calculation of strength, would take the place +of bullets and bayonets. + +As with Cats, so with _Sparrows_; it may be said that they are constant +friends that are always with us. Yet, though so common, they are a never +failing source of interest in a city garden, if only because they always +provide some conspicuous life and motion; and in mine, because they may +nearly always be heard chirping or quarrelling in the ivy, which covers +so much of the garden walls. + +I am sorry that Miss Ormerod gives them such a bad character as to their +appetites. But not being personally engaged in agriculture, I can only +rejoice that nature has provided them with such strong constitutions, and +healthy and active digestions. Beyond this, it is certainly a pleasure +to a townsman to note their chatterings, their amicable, if noisy, +contentions for the best places in the ivy, their demonstrative +courtships, their dust-baths in the dry ground, or their water-baths in +the pans provided for them for this purpose, and their evident love for +the neighbourhood and companionship (at a properly regulated distance) of +mankind. + +What a contrast there is between the active, fluttering, often noisy +_House Sparrow_, and its quiet, retiring, and gentle-mannered neighbour, +the _Hedge Sparrow_. + +This was well illustrated in the early part of last December, in this +way; the Hedge Sparrow (or Dunnock or Accentor) does not often visit my +garden, but one of these pretty birds did come at this time, and having +incautiously entered the open door of my greenhouse, got shut up in it. +Next morning, on my entering, it was, of course, somewhat frightened. +But instead of violently fluttering about, and dashing itself against the +window, as the House Sparrow will do in like circumstances, it very +quietly and gently flew away from me, and then at once dropped down +behind the brick flue, where it remained quiet and concealed, in spite of +my efforts to find it, as I desired to do in order to give it its +liberty. The same thing exactly happened on some following mornings; and +being fed regularly, it has remained there to the present time, _i.e._ +the date of this paper. + +There are plenty of other birds whose visits and whose peculiarities +would provide abundant material for a paper much longer than I can +venture now to inflict upon you. But they are all welcome for the sake +of the varieties of life and habits they present—as well as for what +Tennyson so prettily describes as their “singing and calling.” + +My grass-plot is the feeding-ground of the greedy and quarrelsome +_Starlings_, which will often come for their meal of worms or other food +at quite regular hours, usually at ten or eleven o’clock in the morning, +and three to four in the afternoon. And occasionally the _Jackdaws_, +from our neighbouring church-steeple, where they live and breed, will +venture—most carefully and cautiously—to alight on the grass in search of +food. Whilst even the Norwich _Rooks_ will, when hard pressed in bad +weather, occasionally dart down from a tree for crusts of bread or other +edible matter obtainable in the garden. + +_Thrushes_ and _Blackbirds_ are chiefly in evidence during the nesting +season; and it is noticeable how tame or rather incautious they appear to +become during this period. It would almost seem as if the sitting +process produced in them (as has been noted of other birds) a dullness or +partial stupor of intelligence. Whilst after hatching, the urgent and +continuous calls of their young ones for food evidently renders their +desire to satisfy these imperative and destructive of prudence. This +very year a full-grown Blackbird ventured along the grass in search of +worms almost up to the house verandah, in which, unfortunately, a cat lay +basking; and, as a matter of course, the bird was instantly pounced upon. +She escaped, however, almost by a miracle, but she left nearly the whole +of her feathers behind her, and almost in a state of nudity. + +It is curious to observe how the Blackbirds and Thrushes will not only +provide worm-food for their nestlings, but how they will prepare these +worms and make them fit for swallowing down the young throats. They will +often, when they have tugged a worm out of the grass, proceed to peck it +into small and suitable lengths, and will then carry these, arranged in +their mouths in suitable bundles, to the nest. + +Blackbirds appear not to gain knowledge by experience, at least in some +particulars. I witness almost every year a repetition of what I may term +“the tragedy of the Blackbirds.” Evidently the same old birds will +yearly build a nest in almost the same portion of the ivy on one of the +walls, and not more than six or seven feet from the ground. Well, this +is all right so long as the old birds are merely sitting and make no +noise, so as to attract feline attention. But as soon as the young birds +are hatched, and begin to make vocal demonstrations, of course they fall +victims to their natural enemies and “bird-fanciers,” and the nests and +their occupants are ruthlessly dragged out from their positions and +destroyed. This occurs year after year. I believe that then the birds +will sometimes build again elsewhere. But they certainly return to +almost the same locality in the following spring, and their offspring +again become victims of the inappropriateness of their selected homes. + +Plenty of other birds also come to the garden at various times and +seasons, and add to its life and interest—_Robins_, _Bluetits_, +_Nuthatches_, _Redwings_, _Missel-thrushes_, and others—but of their +behaviour in the winter season, and when habitually fed, I have already +discoursed to this Society, so will not further trouble you now with +their noticeable peculiarities. + +REPTILES.—Perhaps it would scarcely be expected that the _Reptile_ race +would provide much of interest for a city garden. Yet it may be truly +said that this class of creatures has done almost more than any other to +provide my garden with material for this. + +As this Society will know from my previous communications to its +“Transactions,” I have long kept two TORTOISES, and year by year noted +their habits and most remarkable peculiarities. These have been already +fully described in the Society’s records, and I can only now add to what +I before stated, that they still continue to increase in size and weight, +and at about the same rate of progression as twelve or thirteen years +ago. They still gain 1½ to 2 ounces in weight in each summer, and lose +about 1 or 1¼ ounce in weight during each winter hybernation. The total +result is, that whilst they weighed respectively 2 lbs. 10 ozs. and 2 +lbs. 5 ozs. in September, 1886, they weighed in October last 3 lbs. 13 +ozs. and 3 lbs. 8 ozs., having thus each gained in weight during this +period 1 lb. 3 ozs., or on an average about one ounce and a quarter in +each year. + +Other reptilians which I have tried to domesticate (for observation) in +my garden are TOADS and FROGS. But I am bound to say that I have not +been successful in preserving them in any numbers for more than a brief +period. Their appearance and disappearance has at times been very +mysterious and inexplicable, but on the whole those which I have imported +have, as a rule, soon either died or been otherwise disposed of. Is it +not probable, I would suggest, that they, or at least the smaller ones, +have fallen a prey to Jackdaws, Rooks, or even Starlings? + +Of the _Frogs_ which I brought home, only one survived the second year. +But this one appeared to thrive in a remarkable degree for several years. +It would apparently lie dormant for many months, and would then reappear, +lively, fat, and much grown, for a few weeks in the late summer or early +autumn; after which he would be no more seen until the following year. + +_Toads_ are more interesting than Frogs; and, indeed, in a city garden, +by no means produce that feeling of loathing which is popularly supposed +to be inherent in them. On the contrary, they quickly become tame, and +almost assume the _status_ of garden pets. And as a matter of fact, I +entirely disagree with Shakespeare, who calls them “ugly and venomous.” + +At first the Toads which I imported would come out regularly on suitable +evenings, and sit or hop about on the damp grass or flower-borders. And +they exhibited a most special tendency (as has been observed by others) +to come down to the house as if desiring an entrance. Indeed, when the +door was open they would not unfrequently walk in. And I have more than +once found one of them in my study or other room, sitting up in a corner, +looking happy and comfortable, and quietly staring at me with its bright +eyes, as if I were the real intruder. + +The direction of my rooms from the garden is from south to north. I do +not know if this was possibly expressive of any migratory instinct. + +Like the Frogs, of a number of Toads which I introduced into my garden, +only three or four remained in the following year; and soon all +disappeared, except one, whose end was peculiar and of dramatic interest. +It occurred in this way: A neighbour kept in his adjacent garden some +other reptiles, namely, some non-poisonous snakes. One of these seems to +have escaped from its cage and got over the dividing wall into my garden, +and on one summer morning was discovered by me on my grass-plot, with +this Toad (about a half-grown one) in his mouth, which he was trying to +kill or swallow. I suppose the Toad was too large or too lively, for the +snake was making very serious exertions, and was actively agitating its +body in a linear direction. When seen at a distance, it looked like a +stout piece of cord or fine rope agitated by the wind, with a movement +like that of a carpet when it is flapped and shaken. The Toad had been +seized by the hinder part of its back, as shown by the two bleeding +punctures afterwards found. + +When the snake saw me advancing towards it, it rapidly wriggled or +undulated away towards the ivy-covered wall, where it was lost. But it +retained its hold of the Toad almost to the last, and until I had got +quite close up to it. + +This incident is not only interesting, but it also shows that these +reptiles must have some instinctive power of knowing of the neighbourhood +of comparatively distant prey; for the rockery stones from which it was +taken must have been at least thirty to forty yards from its own +domicile. Such an instinct would seem to be the equivalent of that well +known to be possessed by birds of prey. I regret that this poor Toad did +not long survive his fright and bad usage. + +My Toads have exhibited the usual tendency of these animals to hide away +beneath stones or earth, and in unfrequented corners. When discovered it +is curious to watch their half-frightened expression, and their peculiar +mode of breathing by their under jaw, which appears at once to increase +in rapidity. They do not resist much when handled, but it is curious to +note how they continue to swell their sides out, until they produce a +very prominent rotundity of their body. After the episode of the Snake +and my Toad, the idea suggests itself that this is intended to make +themselves as large as possible, not from envy of the Ox, as stated in +the fable with reference to the Frog, but to make themselves too large a +morsel to be swallowed by the lesser of those animals which prey upon +them. + +These “Toads in holes” would come out from their retreat in dry weather, +a few hours _before_ rain, after which they would again disappear, often +for a long season. + +INSECTS.—There are plenty of these in every garden, however small; and +Bees, Flies, Beetles, and especially Spiders, would afford a never ending +source of interest. The only insects which I have specially watched are +ANTS, nests and colonies of which appear and reappear every summer upon +my garden paths, or upon the adjacent portions of the grass-plots. + +We all know of the very numerous observers of and writers upon these +little creatures; and their works, from Huber down to Sir John Lubbock, +will be more or less familiar to us all. Their industry, their building +powers, their gregarious nature, their division of labour, their apparent +working for the common good, their devotion to the young, their +colonizing instincts, as well as some of the changes which their insect +forms undergo, are all there recorded. + +And many of these things are easily to be observed by anyone who takes +the trouble. + +I can only venture here to make one or two brief notes on their +proceedings in St. Giles’s Street. + +Both the small brown and the small black Ants are to be here seen, but +they occupy different positions; and not only do not seem to be on +neighbourly terms with each other, but fight at once if experimentally +placed together. + +The brown Ants are the more numerous, and in the summer months display an +enormous amount of activity. Doubtless there is a good reason for their +incessant movements, but to the ordinary observer these often seem to be +purposeless and merely the result of restlessness and excess of energy. + +The favourite situation for their little Ant-hills is decidedly along the +edge of the gravel path, where this abuts upon the grass sward, and it is +noticeable that almost the whole of these are placed on the easterly edge +of this. From these nests, or centres, very little use is made of the +adjacent grass territory, but from nearly all a track is made across the +gravel path to its opposite (westerly) side, where either a hole is made +into a small fresh home, or a semi-tunnel is made through the grass +edging on to and into the earth of the flower-border beyond. There +appears to be no attempt to tunnel in the firm gravel path, but the +incessant racing backward and forward in the same line very soon (as Sir +John Lubbock, now Lord Avebury, has pointed out) makes a well-trodden +road, along which they follow each other in rapid succession. + +As to their hour of rising in the morning for work, I cannot speak from +personal observation. But as Solomon holds them out as an example to +those inclined unduly to keep their beds, I conclude that their motto is, +“Early to rise.” But I can say that the opposite half of this proverb, +namely, “Early to bed,” does not apply to them, for, at least in the warm +weather, they do certainly often work until late at night. + +It is very interesting to watch these Ants at work, and to note their +activity and energy and strength. An Ant is “but a little creature,” but +he is certainly able to perform a large amount of physical work. And +especially is this seen in the way he builds up those little heaps of +earth known as Ant-hills. I have had many of these under observation, +and the rapidity with which they reappear after injury by pressure or a +heavy rain-storm is very remarkable. Twenty-four hours, or even less, +being often sufficient for their complete restoration. They are of +varying form, but some are perfectly conical, with a circular hole at the +top exactly like that of some Norfolk “kilns” used for the burning of +bricks. Others are irregular, or flattened and spongy, with several +holes. But it would seem that the varying shapes are largely due to the +special conditions under which they are made. + + * 1907. I have noted that this year the brown Ants have varied in + colour, or have been replaced in their more usual spots on my gravel + walk by others that are nearly if not quite black. And I have also + noticed that their habits are somewhat different. The little conical + Ant-hills which they make are much smaller, but more numerous, than + those of their predecessors, and they seem to burrow more in the + adjacent grass lawn. But they keep to almost the same spots. In their + daily workings and activities also there is a decided difference. They + are very active in the early mornings, but often can scarcely be seen + all the mid-day or afternoon, instead of racing about above ground + almost the whole day, as the others did. But they may have been + influenced in this by the continued cool and showery weather of the + season. + +One very warm day about noon, in the early part of September, I witnessed +some of the proceedings at one of the well-known “wedding ceremonials” of +Ants. The whole body of the Ants were swarming on the grass above the +nest, and racing about in evidently a great state of excitement. Amongst +these were five large winged (Queen) Ants, constantly moving about, +though more quietly, and in and out of the nest opening. Also in the +group were some forty or more smaller winged (Male) Ants, also moving +about upon the ground. None of the winged Ants were flying far about. I +watched this state of commotion for some time, then left, and returned in +about an hour, when the whole body of these insects had disappeared, +presumably into the nest. Whether the brides and bridegrooms were about +to take their wedding flight, or whether (as appears most probable) they +had just returned, I am unable to state; but I saw no further commotion +outside later on in the day. + +I have often watched these little creatures at work upon their “heaps,” +and have noted how these are gradually built up of aggregations of single +grains of earth or sand, which evidently have been dug out grain by grain +from the earth, where the excavation is going on, and are then brought in +the Ant’s mouth to the surface, and to the top of the rising earth-heap. +They are then dropped over its edge, and the Carrier Ant at once races +back into the hole presumably for a fresh burden. This process is a very +remarkable one, and the way the Ant brings his grain of earth in his +mouth and drops it over the edge of the rising Ant-hill, irresistibly +reminds one of a railway navvy who wheels his barrow full of earth and +tilts it over the edge of the embankment upon which he is at work. The +number of single grains in even a small Ant-heap must be very large, and +must amount to many thousands, or perhaps to hundreds of thousands. +What, then, must be the untiring energy of a small Ant colony, which can +reproduce such a granular heap in less than twenty-four hours? + +It does not always seem clear what the streams of Ants from the parent +nest are so constantly occupied in. They may be, to a certain extent, +colonizers, but they certainly do not, with me, raise secondary Ant-hills +to any great extent at the end of their runs. They make holes in the +ground there, and possibly they may be engaged in their proverbial custom +of securing and storing up food for the winter. To the uninstructed eye +these holes look very much like Colonial outposts. + +The activity of these Ants entirely ceases with the advent of autumn, and +their Ant-hills in my garden entirely disappear until the following +season. + +As we all know, this instinct of storing up food for winter use has been +largely denied, but from Sir John Lubbock’s account it certainly exists +in some species, though its extent varies greatly. As he says that many +of the Ants live through the winter, some food would seem to be required. + +Speaking of Ants generically, we all doubtless accept King Solomon’s +authority upon this point, and we shall not forget that the Roman poet, +Virgil, writing just before the Christian era, expressed himself to the +same effect. + + “Ac veluti ingentem formicæ farris acervum + Cum populant, hyemis memores, tectoque reponunt.” + +Whilst Cicero says: + + “In formica non modo sensus, sed etiam mens, ratio, memoria.” + +Lastly, did time and inclination permit, I might have found endless +interest in observing the habits of the vast quantities of WORMS (again +with the aid of Sir John Lubbock) which inhabit my grass-plot; or those +of the SNAILS; or of the SLUGS, which exist in equally innumerable +quantities in the garden soil. Both these latter classes of animals +appear to be made to be eaten, as they largely furnish food for the +birds. They prefer damp or wet weather, and to some degree are excellent +weather-glasses or weather prophets. As we all know, they roam or sail +about on rainy evenings. But it is curious to observe also the special +instinct by which in dry periods the Snails will become aware of watered +or damp earth at a considerable distance, and how they will in the night +cross a large breadth of dry, or even dusty earth, to reach a spot of +ground where plants have been watered on the previous evening. I need +scarcely remind you that these land mollusks, the Snails, and still more +the Slugs, are creatures with super-excellent appetites for the garden +plants. + +I have now, in conclusion, not only to apologize to this Society for the +length of my paper, but, perhaps, also for having brought it before you +at all. + +I did not venture to do so until I had asked our excellent and +experienced Secretary whether he considered that a few such popular or +surface notes, even if containing little that is new, would be +acceptable, or even appropriate, to such a learned body. My real object +has been less to state what I have personally observed than to show what +a large field still exists in our city centres (as indeed everywhere) for +a naturalistic use of whatever out-door opportunities are present; and to +illustrate the principle that even in the smallest and least promising +city gardens or spaces, the materials for interest and self-instruction +are ever present, and practically inexhaustible; that here, as elsewhere, +and everywhere, we may “read, and read again, and still find something +new; something to please, and something to instruct.” + + + + +VII. +PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. {72} + + +LADIES AND GENTLEMEN—Another of our Society’s years has come to a close +this day, and it devolves upon me to say a few final words before +yielding up this presidential chair. In doing so, my chief desire is to +repeat my thanks to the members for having placed me in so honourable a +position, and for their kindness in sustaining me throughout the various +evening meetings of the session. + +It is a matter of much congratulation that these meetings have continued +to be well attended, and that the Society itself has continued thoroughly +to fill that position of scientific usefulness which was hoped for it at +its first inauguration, now eighteen years ago. Such a lapse of time +gives the opportunity of seeing how much good work has in the aggregate +been done. And though, no doubt, in looking back through our volumes it +will be found that different years have produced a varying amount of work +judged by its importance, yet on the average we have reason to be well +satisfied with what the successive numbers show us, seeing that the total +represents a very important collection indeed of natural history facts +and information. The work of the present year has, I think, fully +maintained the good average attained in other sessions. + +The Society too, has, as a whole, continued to prosper, and appears to be +effectually carrying out the initial programme set forth on the first +page of each volume of its “Transactions.” + +On looking back to some of our earliest annual reports, I find that our +numbers have doubled and trebled themselves since that time; and further +that the list now embraces the names of many both at home and afar off, +whose reputations are well known to science, and who are powerful +additions to our Society’s strength. As compared, too, with those +earlier times, the increased plumpness of our yearly volume tells of the +greater amount of matter that is now every year contributed. + +So, too, if prosperous finance is any test of success, we may look to the +larger figures in our balance sheet, and the sufficiently satisfactory +state of our “balance at the bank” further to fortify the favourable +position which I desire to point out to you. + +We have had an accession of twenty-one new members during the year, +whilst seventeen have been removed by death, resignation, or other +causes. But though the total losses from these causes have been but few, +and those from death not above the average, yet these latter include some +well-known names—the names of members of valued attainments, and of men +whom the Society could ill spare. + +Especially do we note with regret the premature loss, in only middle +life, of one who had been a member of this Society from its commencement, +who was also a life member of the Zoological Society, and whose death +would have claimed attention from us as Norwich men, were it for no other +reason than that he bore a name the very sound of which is instinct with +ideas of Norfolk Natural History; one who was also a member of a family +to which this Society, and the neighbouring Museum, owe a long and +ever-increasing debt of gratitude. + +Although the late Mr. John Gurney’s talents were never, I believe, +especially directed to our class of study, yet his tastes for the bright +and the beautiful were well known. And though his affliction had of late +years debarred him from the complete visual enjoyment of the beauties of +nature, yet his devotion to the improvement of the rural charms of his +own home, and his public-spirited expenditure upon the scheme for the +laying out of Mousehold Heath, and its appropriate development, showed +that he had in him that form of mind out of which the true lover of +nature’s creatures, as well as nature’s charms, necessarily arises. + +But this side of Mr. Gurney’s mind will come home to us as naturalists +much more forcibly when we recall the great act of his life, in which he +was so heartily and so earnestly engaged when death removed him so +suddenly in the midst of his useful and public-spirited career. I, of +course, allude to his great Castle-Museum scheme for the removal of our +grand Museum collection, with its surroundings, to a new and larger and +more appropriate position on the Castle Hill. We all know the generous +liberality with which he sought to ensure this grand scheme being carried +out. We have all noted the quiet and business-like sagacity with which +the various steps necessary for the effective doing of this work were +taken under his inspiration. And I am sure we recognise how he was +actuated not only by a desire to raise the scientific _status_ of the +county and city generally, but also to assist those Norfolk workers in +nature’s fields whose accumulated results are now to be seen under this +roof. + +His large and increasing views for the good of this city, and its general +welfare, have been so thoroughly and so publicly appreciated on all +sides, that it is not necessary for me to add one word more. His name +will remain as that of a public man at once generous and right-minded. +And I can only hope on behalf of this Society, and that of other kindred +ones, that nothing will occur to prevent the full development and +carrying out of that Castle scheme, which, if effected, will, in my +opinion, have a large and important influence not only upon the future +scientific progress of Norfolk generally, but also upon the intellectual +position which our famous old city will hold in the time to come. + +Mr. Hampden G. Glasspoole, who has also recently died, had been a member +of this Society from its commencement, and had contributed two papers to +its proceedings. These were entitled “Biographical Memoirs of some +Norwich Botanists,” and “Memoir of Lilly Wigg.” He had also published +several papers in _Science Gossip_. He was for several years a member of +the late Norwich Microscopical Society; and of the London Quekett Club. + +Mr. Glasspoole was an accomplished botanist. For many of the later years +of his residence at Ormesby, he was honorary curator of Botany at the +Norwich Museum; and after his removal to London he held, for a short +period, the office of botanist to the Alexandra Palace. + +He will be remembered by us all as kindly, gentle, and genial; ever ready +to help others with his time or his knowledge; and with all his stores of +information, modest and unassuming. + +He added one species to the British Flora, _Carex trinervis_, Devgl; and +two species to our county list, namely, _Ammophila Baltica_, Leak, and +_Sparganium neglectum_, Beeby. + +As is well known, he was the eldest son of the late Capt. R. Glasspoole +of Ormesby, who had himself presented many _curios_ to our Museum, and +who published a most interesting account of his experiences whilst a +prisoner in the hands of Chinese pirates. + +The Ornithology of Scotland has, in the death of Mr. Robert Gray, which +took place at Edinburgh in February last, lost one of its ablest +exponents. Commencing with “The Birds of Ayrshire and Wigtonshire,” +which appeared in 1869, Mr. Gray, two years later, published the more +important “Birds of the West of Scotland,” and at the time of his death +was engaged on a similar work treating of the birds of the Eastern +district of his native country. In this latter work he was, I believe, +associated with Mr. William Evans of Edinburgh, who, it is to be hoped, +will bring their joint labours to a successful issue. + +Mr. Gray commenced public life in the City of Glasgow Bank, and it was +whilst acting as Inspector of Agencies for that establishment that he was +enabled to collect the information which so enriched his work on the +“Birds of the West of Scotland.” Subsequently Mr. Gray entered the Bank +of Scotland, and at the time of his death occupied the position of its +chief cashier. Since his residence in Edinburgh, he has taken a +prominent position in the scientific institutions of that city, and was a +Vice-President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and Secretary of the +Royal Physical Society. He did not become a member of our Society until +1884, but has been long known by several of its members, and highly +valued as a correspondent or friend. + +The only other member of this Society whose death we have to deplore is +Captain Philip Hamond, who has for some time left this city, but who will +be well remembered as having resided for awhile at Mousehold House, +Thorpe. He showed much interest in the natural history of Norfolk, and +also in its antiquities; and he left a valuable collection of books +relating to Norfolk. + +During the past session we have had many valued _papers_ contributed to +our Society; besides some notes—shorter, but not necessarily less +interesting, or of less value. + +We have also had several specimens exhibited. And, in addition, we have +had a considerable number of members who have taken part in the various +discussions. + +I need scarcely remind you how varied these contributions have been; and +how birds, beasts, fishes, insects, and smaller creatures; as well as +seeds and plants, great and small; have all received illustrations during +the year. Distant parts of the globe, too, have helped to supply us with +the material which has been brought before us, notably by our late +President, Colonel Feilden. + +Many of the papers will be published in the forthcoming “Transactions” of +the Society; and to these I need scarcely allude, as they can all be read +by us very shortly. But I should scarcely like to omit to mention the +beautiful botanical specimens exhibited by Mr. Long, of Wells, at our +last meeting. The rarity and interest of some of them, the beauty and +finish of the mountings, and the true scientific intelligence displayed +in all, can but make us desire that so competent a collector would not +only further explore his district, but also enrich this Society by the +exhibition of the fruit of his researches. + +As to the contributions which will not appear in our “Transactions”:—At +the May meeting, Mr. F. Sutton read some interesting notes on Strawberry +growing. In October, Mr. Southwell read extracts from the records of the +Whaling s.s. “Eclipse” in the Greenland seas. Mr. Southwell’s notes +referred more particularly to the natural history occurrences of the +voyage; the birds and animals met with. And he exhibited several forms +of Whale and Seal food, consisting of Crustacea and various minute +organisms; as well as the skulls of two Greenland Seals, two Ringed +Seals, and a Polar Bear, sent him by Mr. Robert Gray—all which latter he +has presented to the Norwich Museum. He also exhibited a very rare +little fish of the genus _Scopelus_, likewise taken by Mr. Gray. + +At the same meeting, our most valued and efficient member, Mr. Geldart, +read a paper on the _Calanus finmarchicus_ or Rice Food of Whales, from +the West Coast of Spitzbergen, and illustrated by it the natural law of +gradation in feeding, showing that whilst some Whales themselves eat this +food, others devour the Cod and Herring, which eat these little +crustaceans, which again eat the diatoms, found floating in such enormous +numbers on the surface of those seas. + +My own humble contribution to the proceedings of our last meeting, in the +shape of a paper on the habits of some of our town birds, entitled “My +Christmas Garden Party,” has been recently published in _extenso_, and +therefore need not be further alluded to here. + +There has been only one _Excursion_ made during the year, but this +appears to have been full of interest and enjoyment. I have received a +lively and detailed account of the day’s proceedings from Mr. Bussey, but +I regret that time only permits me to note the principal features of the +occasion. + +The visit was made to the Salhouse and Wroxham Broads, and the +neighbouring district, including the Broomhills, St. Benedict’s Abbey, +and portions of the river Bure. It is unnecessary to say how ample is +the material in this district for the study of both the animal and +vegetable kingdom; and as the day was fine, the opportunities afforded +were fully availed of. As usual, this occasion for field study fully +repaid those who took part in it, for their devotion of the day to this +pleasant combination of research and recreation. + +The field over which “Natural History” extends is a very wide one, and +properly includes the study of all organised beings, living and dead. At +one end the ground is, to a very considerable extent, occupied by the +Geological Society, which exists in Norwich; yet even in this department +we have had, as I have said, some very valuable contributions during the +year. But at the other end, which embraces the study of minute or +microscopic life, not only have we had no contributions during the past +session, but I find, on looking over the past numbers of our +“Transactions,” that the papers dealing with this part of the world’s +life have been both few and far between. There have been, as we know, +some great and valuable exceptions, such as the papers read by Mr. +Kitton, the address by Mr. Plowright, a portion of the address read by +the President, Mr. Sutton, two years ago, and, perhaps, one or two +others. Still the small part which microscopical records and +observations play in our annals is both noticeable and regrettable—the +more so, because in consequence of the decease of the old Norwich +Microscopical Society, I believe that no public or systematic work in +this direction is now being carried on in this city. And yet, partly in +consequence of the larger forms of life having now been so largely +studied, but still more in consequence of the new views as to the +universality and far-reaching importance of microscopic living +beings—there is probably no phase of natural history which is now more +engaging general attention, or which is being more eagerly studied and +investigated elsewhere. + +Mr. Sutton, in his presidential address of 1884–85, gave a most learned +and interesting description of some of the microscopical researches which +had been carried on up to that time, and further gave us a most lucid +account of the influence which micro-organisms had been shown to exert in +the process of nitrification in soils, an influence which had formerly +been considered to be due to purely chemical action. {80} + +I trust I may be forgiven if I recall your attention for a few moments to +this subject of Germ life, more particularly as it branches out and +develops in a more vital direction; in other words as it affects human +and animal life. + +This portion of the subject has, during the past two or three years, +deepened and strengthened in interest; our knowledge of it has largely +increased; and the recognition of its vital importance has called forth, +both in Europe and America, a host of eager and capable workers. It is +scarcely too much to say that its wide and far-reaching issues are +probably the most important to mankind of any that have been studied in +recent times. Foremost amongst the workers in this department may be +recalled to you the well-known names of Koch and Pasteur, abroad; and of +Lister, Watson-Cheyne, and Crookshank, in this country. But the names of +other eminent investigators will almost necessarily occur to your minds. + +It has long been known what potent factors were microscopic Germs in +producing changes in the constitution of decaying matter; and how they +were, in all probability, the useful scavengers of nature, definitely +resolving into their constituent elements failing and dying organic +tissues. But it has become more and more a matter of knowledge, that by +their parasitic habits and their power of invading and living upon and +within other living tissues, they are also the sources of many so-called +diseases of both vegetables and animals. + +With regard to vegetable parasitic growth I will not now detain you. The +blights, and the mildews, and the ergots, as well as minuter forms, such +as algæ and micrococci, are well known; and no doubt much more is still +to be learned from their further investigation; whilst by analogy it +seems highly probable that the circulating fluids of higher members of +the vegetable kingdom may be found to be invaded by parasitic beings in +the same way as their animal compeers. + +But it is to Germ life in animal bodies that I wish now specially to +allude. I have said that our knowledge in this direction has, even in +the last two or three years, made enormous strides, and it is now almost +a matter of certainty that all contagious or infectious disorders, as +well as many others, are but the expression of the fact that minute +living bodies have made a resting-place for themselves in or upon other +living tissues; and that the development of the phenomena of these morbid +states is but an indication of their presence and reproductive +activity—either as cause, or as an accompaniment of these disease +manifestations. And this applies not only to the human species, but to +lower classes of animals, between whom and man many of these diseases are +interchangeable. + +Such knowledge necessarily invests the life history of these minute Germs +with intense interest, seeing that it is probably one step, and that a +long one, towards the discovery of the means of prevention, if not also +of cure, of many of our most fatal and dreaded diseases. + +Examples of such diseases are:—Scarlet Fever, Diphtheria, Small Pox, +Cholera, Yellow Fever, Tuberculous Disease, Ague, Hydrophobia, Cattle +Plague, Anthrax; and many others might be enumerated whose dependence +upon parasitic Germs is almost conclusively proved. But these are +sufficient to show the deep interest of this branch of study. + +Not only are these Germs found in the solids of the body in some of these +diseases, but in others their presence is easily and constantly +recognisable in the blood or other fluids, and even within the corpuscles +which the blood so largely contains. And not only so, but the forms +which these micro-organisms present are so constant and so definite in +the different disorders, that it is now almost possible in some instances +to diagnose what diseased condition we have to deal with by an +examination of the fluid or tissue in which they are contained. + +It is, perhaps, but right here to say that some of our most cautious +observers consider that it is as yet hardly _proven_ that the differing +Germs found in the various diseases are their actual and efficient cause; +but their definiteness in the various disorders, and the constancy of +their presence, leave little doubt that this will hereafter be +conclusively shown to be the case. + +Some of these Germs seem to have a short life and rapid development, and +then we have acute disease. Others seem to have a more prolonged or +continuing career, and then we have chronic disease. Whilst others seem +to have an intermitting development, and then we have paroxysmal disease. + +Many curious facts have been observed in reference to the forms, or +multiplication, or life-history of some of these parasitic beings. Thus, +for example, in one class (_Filaria sanguinis_) it was noticed that the +minute embryos of this little blood-worm could only be discovered in the +evening or during the night, and not during the day; and the reason of +this has appeared to be that it is necessary that they should come within +reach of the Mosquito Gnat, which is a night-feeding animal, in whose +bodies one stage of their development appears to take place. + +One of the latest discoveries in this department of natural history is +that of the blood germs, which co-exist with the various forms of ague +and malarious disease, and upon which they would appear to depend. Dr. +Osler, of Pennsylvania (now Regius Professor of Medicine, at Oxford), has +recently described and figured these little bodies in an elaborate paper +full of interest. + +Such facts as these, when regarded merely from the point of view of a +member of the Medical Profession have their deep and _special_ +significance. But I am here to-night as a member of the Naturalists’ +Society, and by all of us, in that capacity, they are first to be +regarded, not as illustrations of disease, but of the life history of +some of nature’s creations—creations which are no doubt as important, as +definite, and which play as large a part in the general scheme of life, +as do many of the larger forms of animated beings. + +Some of these little bodies, especially those of the bacillary and +bacterial class, are extremely minute, and are best examined with powers +ranging from one-tenth to one-twenty-fifth of an inch; and it is +impossible to ignore the fact that their study requires not only good +instruments, but much patience and skilled attention. Nevertheless, such +study fairly comes within the scope of this Society’s work, and will most +certainly repay any of its members who may be induced adequately to +undertake it. + +Nor let it be said that minuteness is any reason for lack of interest on +the part of the naturalist. For many of these micro-organisms have +already been shown to be as varied, and to have as definite a structure, +and as special a life history, as any of the larger types of beings; +whilst, of course, we all recognise that apparent size is as nothing, +that it is a mere accident, a question of the construction of our +enquiring eyes, a condition that is at once altered and rectified by a +magnifying glass. + +If it be true that the invasion and presence of various small organisms +in the blood or tissues is the cause of the various specific diseases to +which I have alluded, then the application of such knowledge as +naturalists can obtain, as to the food and other conditions necessary to +their existence; their mode of ingress to the body; their development and +multiplication, becomes clear and obvious. It opens up to our minds +possibilities both of prevention, and of either mitigation or cure. For +it is evident that if we can starve these Germs of their necessary +nutriment, or make their new habitation unsuitable for their healthy and +vigorous development, their career as invaders will necessarily either be +cut short, or be rendered feeble and impotent; and therefore the +disease-changes which they can produce less violent and less lethal. + +Something of this kind appears naturally to have taken place in those +persons in whom some of the zymotic diseases (of which Measles, Scarlet +Fever, Whooping Cough, etc., may be taken as familiar types) have once +run their course; in those, that is, who are popularly said to have +already had these diseases. And although the exact abiding change which +is produced has not been ascertained, yet it is well known, and quite +understood, to be one which renders the fluids or tissues partially or +wholly unsuitable for their future healthy growth. + +This theory, too, is the well-known explanation of the protective power +of the Cow Pox, which once having permeated a human system, has rendered +it unsuitable for the future healthy and vigorous development of its +greater relation—the Small Pox. + +In default of available means of destroying the Germs of other malignant +diseases, prolonged efforts have been made (and notably by the great +French pathologist, Pasteur) so to diminish the intensity of the +destructive force of some of these specific Germs, that they may be +safely inoculated into human bodies without danger to life, and yet be +potent enough in their effects to anticipate and render abortive the +invasion of the more virulent diseases. This has been attempted by +repeated cultivations of the Germs in proper media, until after several +of such generations the broods shall have acquired the requisite +diminished vitality—in fact, until that diminution of virulence which the +Small Pox Germ has sustained in passing through the Cow has been obtained +by these artificial means. + +We are all familiar with the attempts which have recently been made by +Pasteur in this direction, in regard to that most fatal disease +Hydrophobia. It remains to be seen how far he has been successful in +solving this preventive problem; and how far this may be the true method +by which to utilize our knowledge of bacterial life. Medical men are +diligently working at this subject from their own point of view. There +is much to be done by microscopic naturalists in unravelling the +life-history of these little beings; and we are glad to recognise the +kind of results which may be hoped for in the future. + +Such considerations as these are fraught with matter for deep reflection, +and tend to open our minds to the far-reaching possibilities not only of +this special knowledge, but of that which we are gaining in many other +branches of science. Each fresh item of knowledge is like a new step +upon a ladder, and raises us to a fresh height from which we can take a +wider survey, and which we can assume as a loftier and broader basis for +further enquiry. Scientific thought is ever as to what may next be done, +and how to do it. For, as Sir James Paget has recently said: “Every +increase of knowledge brings before us a larger and clearer view of the +immeasurable quantity which is still to be gained. The more we know, the +more can we see, if we will, how much more there is that we do not know.” +And of this we may be sure, that it is by minute and exact work only that +in the future our store of knowledge is to be increased and made sure. +If no other example to prove this were at hand, it would be sufficient to +quote the recent observations of the Rev. Dr. Dallinger on the subject of +the conjugation of the nuclei of some minute forms of cell life: +observations which bring us nearer to some definite knowledge of this +particular matter than any hitherto made upon higher classes of +creatures. + +Dr. Dallinger has spoken of the “vast area of activity and research in +this direction;” and Professor Huxley has said, “that those who have +toiled for the advancement of science are in a fair way of being +overwhelmed by the realisation of their wishes.” + +We appear indeed to be still only on the threshold of knowledge, to have +merely touched the fringe of the vast and infinite life-history which the +living world, that inexhaustible stream of life which we see everywhere +around us, contains. We are proud of the amount of our natural history +knowledge. We think to have accumulated a large store of information as +to that especially of our own district. We can point to the lists of +animals and plants which the research of the members of our Society, and +others, has so laboriously gathered together. And we can look to the +stores of our Museum as illustrations of what has been done. And yet a +little further consideration at once shows us how small a part this is of +what is yet to be known. We know the gross form of the specimens; we +know something of their habits during life; and yet how little is this of +what there is to be known about them. Who is there of the most learned +who can properly explain the meaning of one hundredth part of what these +creatures present in form, size, colour, and intimate structure? We have +a general idea that their special peculiarities have relation to the two +primary essentials of life—the daily bread, and the perpetuation of the +species—but we are largely unable to explain the _raison d’etre_ of many +of the commonest facts which they present. It will be a great day when +we can also explain the object or utility of all the variations which +they present. + +Of course I do not forget the powerful impulse given by the researches of +Darwin in the direction of explaining the why and the wherefore. I only +indicate how large a portion of this explanatory field is yet untilled. + +In this county a Naturalists’ Society will never lack either for material +to work on, or for variety and interest of subject. Much, even in its +grosser form, still remains to be learned. And the vast variety +presented by the county, in respect of climate, soils, strata, heath, +woodland, marsh, stagnant and running water, as well as the proximity of +the great ocean with its shore—presents an almost unexampled field for +the work of the scientific naturalist—a field, too, which is constantly +changing in accordance with the physical and other changes steadily going +on in the district. + +With these great natural advantages, and with the great love for natural +science, which is inherent in Norfolk men, I make bold to hope and +prognosticate for this Society a prolonged and continuously useful +career. We are glad to see its library growing, and its journalistic +interchanges increasing. We are glad of the increasing importance of the +position which it holds amongst kindred societies. We are all, I am +sure, looking forward to the time when this, our Society, will meet in a +handsome airy room on the top of the Castle Hill; {88} when any student +of any particular branch of this natural history will be able (on +repairing to our Museum) to see not merely inaccessible specimens ranged +three or four deep, but so displayed as to be available for study and +examination; when lectures and demonstrations will be possible, because +there will be sufficient room space to contain both the lecturer and his +audience; in short, when we in Norwich shall have a scientific centre +worthy of the Museum and of the great reputation which this district has +always held. + +What a happy change, too, when the old Castle of Norwich—the last of our +three city prisons—shall exchange its human prisoners for forms, +imprisoned indeed, but not human; and intended only to enlarge and +instruct and make more free the mind of man. And when Science and Art +and the cultivation of the intelligence shall tend year by year, and ever +more and more, to render real prisons less and less required. And when +the moral sense and the force of cultivated public opinion shall suffice +to reduce crime and ill-doing to its minimum. We gladly recognise how +much has already been done, and we look forward with hope in both these +directions to the good time coming. + +In now resigning this chair to my learned and distinguished successor, I +can only trust that he will find his year of office as pleasant, and as +profitable to himself, as the Members of this Society, and their +excellent Secretary, have rendered mine to me. + + + + +VIII. +THE PARISH OF ST. GILES’S, NORWICH, AND ITS CHURCH. {90a} + + +The parish of St. Giles’s, though relatively not large, yet has always in +later periods occupied an important position in the City of Norwich. It +formerly—as is usual with parishes dedicated to Saint Giles—lay upon the +outskirts of the city, though not _necessarily_ within the city proper +previously to 1253 {90b} (as Mr. Hudson has pointed out), when the city +was enclosed with a fosse. In recent times Norwich has expanded largely +in the direction of Earlham and Heigham, and St. Giles’s is now +completely overlapped by these populous suburbs. + +Blomefield describes the parish as having been part of a new portion of +Norwich called the New Burgh, originally settled in the time of Edward +the Confessor, but much increased at the Conquest by the Normans or +Frenchmen settling in it. He says they chose and took this position as +being the pleasantest part of the city; but it may also have been that +they selected it as being merely the best ground as yet unoccupied by +earlier settlers. + +St. Giles’s parish is broadly triangular in form, with its base along +Chapel Field Road and St. Giles’s Hill. It covers (according to Ordnance +Survey) a space of 22·952 acres, and comprises within its area rather +more than half of Chapel Field. Its western boundary is along the site +of the old city wall, and of St. Giles’s Gate, whilst on the eastern or +city side it extends as far as Fisher’s Lane and a little beyond. The +population in 1881 was 1,438. + +A main city street runs through it, now known as St. Giles’s Street, but +formerly called Inferior Newport, Nether Newport, or Lower Newport; +Bethel Street being then called Over or Upper Newport. + +This street is handsome and well-built, and contains several large and +important houses or mansions. Of late years several of these have been +converted into the homes of public institutions, and the “Young Men’s +Christian Association,” “Gilman’s Insurance Offices,” and the “Masonic +Association,” now occupy some of the largest of them. + +On the north side of this main street, near to Fisher’s Lane, formerly +stood a _Domus Dei_, or Almshouse, but this was pulled down about 150 +years ago. Browne, writing in 1814, says: “On the south side of this +street is the office of Mack’s London Waggons, which go and return to and +from London every week.” These waggons continued to ply for many years; +and “Mack’s yard,” which adjoined what is now Mortimer’s Hotel, was a +business centre of considerable importance. + +In olden times, _Fisher’s Lane_, which extends from St. Giles’s Broad +Street to Pottergate Street, was believed to have been so called as being +the road to a fish-quay, which formerly existed there; but this is now +thought to be very doubtful. The other principal thoroughfares are _St. +Giles’s Plain_, in which was formerly an open pit—seen and mentioned by +Kirkpatrick, but long since filled up; _Rigby’s Court_, leading from it, +formerly called _Pit Lane_, but now known as Rigby’s Court, from the +eminent Dr. Rigby, who once lived at its St. Giles’s end; and _Willow +Lane_, noteworthy for having for a time been the residence of the Rev. +Francis Blomefield, the Norfolk historian, and of George Henry Borrow, +the celebrated writer. + +The principal PUBLIC BUILDINGS are + + _The Church_, + + _The Church Schools_, built in 1862, + + _The Roman Catholic Chapel_, erected in 1828, and + + _The Volunteer Drill Hall_, erected in 1865–6. + +Until quite recently the City Prison stood immediately outside the Gate +of St. Giles; but the site of this prison is now occupied by the Roman +Catholic Church, now in process of erection. + +In earlier times a _Leper-house_ existed just beyond the gate. + +Also until recently there existed just beyond the gate a series of +remarkable and ancient _chalk vaults_, or excavations. They are +described by Mr. Woodward (“Archæologia” vol. xxiij., p. 411), who showed +a plan of them made by John Bond in 1571. Woodward thinks they were +galleries made to obtain the chalk flints for building purposes, whilst +Mr. Rye says “they were probably worked by the masons of the Castle and +Cathedral for the sake of the chalk.” They are now filled up. + +_The City Wall_, built between 1294 and 1319, surrounded the outer and +western margin of this parish; and St. Giles’s Gateway, the “Porte de +Newport,” or Gate of Newport, stood at the western end of St. Giles’s +Street. Over this gate, at one time, lived an hermit. It was pulled +down in 1792. In 1867 the greater portion of this part of the City Wall +was also taken down; only a small portion near the southern end of Chapel +Field, with one of the towers, being left standing. A photograph of this +remnant is given in my book on St. Giles’s parish; as well as views of +the Gateway as it existed in 1720 and 1792. The latter were sketched by +the Ninhams, and published by Mr. Fitch in his work on the Gates of +Norwich. + +_Chapel Field_, whose history is so strongly interwoven with that of +Norwich, lies on the southern side of St. Giles’s. It takes its name +from a Chapel of St. Mary, which formerly stood where now is the building +used as a High School for Girls. More than half of it lies in this +parish (4·790 acres out of a total of 8·994 acres). It was formerly +known as Chapel Field Croft; and its ancient owners are stated by +Blomefield to have been the Prior of Buckenham, the Prioress of Carhowe, +and the Dean and College of the Chapel in the Fields. But it appears to +have been acquired by the City during the sixteenth century, after the +dissolution of the monasteries. Chapel Field was at one time a sort of +_Campus Martius_ of the city, and was used for the musters and training +of the local trained bands, as well as for military reviews. After its +acquirement by the Corporation, the Field was for a long time usually let +out on lease. + +In 1707 it was first railed in. In 1746 its main avenues of trees were +planted by Sir Thomas Churchman. In 1792 a large portion of it was used +for the construction of the reservoir of the old Norwich Waterworks. In +later times it has been used for the drilling of Militia or Volunteers; +as well as for Volunteer reviews; also for the holding of fêtes, flower +shows, bicycle meetings, and horse shows. The well-remembered Fisheries +Exhibition was held in the Drill Hall in 1881. + +In 1866 the Prince and Princess of Wales each planted a Wellingtonia tree +in the Field, but these did not flourish, and have been removed. In the +same year the Field was enclosed with its present handsome iron +palisading, and it has since then been transformed into the delightful +Chapel Field Gardens, as we now see them, with their special beauties, +and the handsome iron Pavilion in their midst. + +_The Church_ of St. Giles, dedicated to the Saint of that name, stands on +the north side of Upper St. Giles’s Street; and is a striking object as +we pass up the street, as well as from many other points of view. It +occupies a commanding position, overlooking much of the surrounding +district, and was anciently called St. Giles’s on the Hill. + +Blomefield says it was founded by Elwyn the priest, and given by him to +the Monks of Norwich, after he had procured an indulgence of twenty days’ +pardon for all who should come and offer here on St. Giles’s Day, or +within seven days after, and it was rebuilt in the time of Richard II. +The chancel, which appears to have been a very long one, was demolished +in 1581, and was not rebuilt until the general restoration of the Church +in 1866, when it was restored mainly at the cost of the Rev. W. N. Ripley +(now Canon Ripley) who was then Incumbent. + +The Church is a fine perpendicular flint-work structure. The tower is +large and well proportioned. It is battlemented and crowned with a small +bell-cot and weather-cock. It is rather more than 113 feet high, and the +hill upon which it stands is 85·8 feet above the level of the sea. From +its height and conspicuous position, it was selected in 1549 for placing +a cresset, for a fire beacon, upon its top. There was formerly a Cross +and Image of the Trinity in a niche on the west side of the steeple +(Blomefield). It has a clock on its eastern face, and contains eight +bells, one of which is rung as a Curfew every evening at eight o’clock, +as has been the case for more than four hundred years, in accordance with +a benefaction of one John Colton, in 1457. + +_The Belfry Chamber_ contains five large steeple-boards, with many names +of ringers. + +_The Porch_ has a fine groined vault, with fan tracery, and a rich +parapet and cornice. + +Kirkpatrick (1712) says of it: “There is a neat porch of freestone on the +south side of the Church for entrance, with a chamber above it. On each +side of the window, which is in the front, is a niche (with) spired top. +On each side of the arch of the door, cut in stone, is a cherub with an +escocheon before him. That on the east side has two pastoral staffs. On +the (west) a Pall, and at the top of the porch a border of carved work +whereon you see the letter G of the antient form with a crown upon it and +an escocheon with vine branch of various small ones denoting St. Giles, +to whom dedicated.” (These three niches are now empty.) “On the north +side of Church there is no porch, but only a door opposite to that of the +south.” (This doorway no longer exists.) + +The Church itself consists of new Chancel, Nave, and North and South +Aisles. The whole building is about 120 feet long, and the nave with its +aisles is 48 feet across. The roof is of good open woodwork, supported +by “Angels bearing shields, emblazoned with the Arms of England, France, +and Castile” (Bayne). And Taylor says the Arms of Norwich Priory are (or +were) seen in this roof. The columns supporting it are light and +elegant. They are four in number, with a pilaster at each end, and they +divide the nave from the aisles. The clerestory windows have been +modernised. They are five in number, and closely correspond to the +larger windows in the walls of the north and south aisles. Of these +there are five in the north side, and four (and the porch) on the south +side. + +Blomefield says that “In the west end of the south aisle there was +formerly a chapel, altar, and image of St. Catharine, with a light +burning before it; and against one of the pillars there was a famous rood +called the Brown-rood. There was a Gild of St. Mary kept before the +altar of the Virgin of Pity. The west window in the north aisle was +adorned with the history of Our Lord’s passion; and there were lights +burning before the images of St. Mary, St. John Baptist, St. Christopher, +St. Unkumber, and St. Wilegesartis; besides those that continually burned +before the Holy-rood, or cross, the Holy Sepulchre, and the Sacrament.” + +Mr. Hudson says that S. Uncumber and S. Wilegesartis, or Wylgefort, were +the same person, and in the _St. Peter Mountergate Parish Magazine_ for +February of this year (1891) he has thus briefly given her history: “She +was a beautiful maiden who was ordered to marry a man to whom she had a +great aversion. While she was at her wits’ end to know how to avoid her +fate, she was delighted to discover that in the course of a few hours she +had become adorned with a full-grown and very ugly black beard. This, of +course, disposed of the gentleman. Wylgefort lived to be a happy old +maid, and when she died was honoured as a Saint . . . She was thought to +have some special power to uncumber (_i.e._ disencumber, make free) +discontented wives from disagreeable husbands. Hence her popular name.” + +The remains of a colossal fresco painting of St. Christopher and two +consecration crosses were discovered on the wall of the north aisle in +1723. + +At the lower end of the Church stands an ancient stone _Font_; the upper +part, or basin, evidently of much older date than the base, which +consists of a pedestal and two steps. The outer part of the basin has +eight facets, carved with shields and flowers, and below these are eight +cherubs’ heads, with flowers between. The pedestal is carved out on its +sides into niches, having cusped tracery heads. There was formerly a +cover, which has been lost. Standing within the large basin is a small +leaden vessel and cover, a rough miniature copy of the font itself, made +about fifty years ago by Mr. Culyer, then parish clerk. + +_The Communion Plate_ {97a} consists of six pieces, silver gilt, and +presented by Robert Snell in 1738, and of two brass bowls, presented by +Mr. John Gurney in 1869. + +The reading desk and pulpit, the organ, the oak fittings, and the vestry +room were all added in 1866, when the whole Church was restored, and the +Chancel rebuilt. {97b} The building is thoroughly heated by hot water. +The Communion rail was added about five years ago. + +The Church contains several monuments, besides mural tablets and +inscribed stones. The principal of the former are those of + + Adrian Payne, 1686, the founder of Payne’s Charity. + + Robert Snell, 1738, who gave the Communion Plate. + + Alderman Churchman, 1742. + + Dr. Offley, 1767. + + Sir Thomas Churchman, 1781. + + Dr. John Beevor, 1815. + + The Stannard Family, 1838. + + Slabs to the memory of Henry Crossgrove, printer, 1744, who published + the first Norwich newspaper in 1706; and to Elizabeth, wife of Colonel + Cobbe, of Sandringham Hall, 1698, may also be mentioned. + +There are several brasses, the two principal represent Robert Baxter, +Mayor of Norwich in 1424 and 1429, with his wife; and Richard Purdaunce, +Mayor 1422 and 1433, with his wife. Both of these are figured in +Cotman’s “Brasses of Norfolk.” + +Other and smaller brasses are inscribed with the names of John Smith, +Elizabeth Bedingfield, Margaret Landysdale, Thomas Hervey, and Rachel +Spendlove. + +_The Room over the Porch_ contains some church standards of former St. +Giles’s Mayors; also a dilapidated ‘Parish Umbrella’; and the parish +‘Watchman’s Crake,’ or rattle. + +_The Parish Registers_ date from 1538, and are very perfect. The Burial +Register shows distinct evidence of the presence of unusual mortality in +some of the well-known pestilence years. The first part contains a very +remarkable illustrated dedication. + +_The Churchyard_ was altered and enclosed with a wall and iron railing in +1866–7. Taylor says that a Hermitage formerly existed in its south-west +corner. + +There are several and important parish _Charities_; their proceeds being +partly for Church purposes, and partly for the benefit of poor +parishioners. + +The incumbency has an endowment of about £70 a year. It was formerly a +Perpetual Curacy, and is now a Vicarage. It is in the gift of the Dean +and Chapter. A vicarage house for the minister has been purchased quite +recently. + + [Picture: The Tower of St. Giles’s Church] + + + + +IX. +THE TOWER OF ST. GILES’S CHURCH, +_And some things in relation thereto_. {99} + + +By “relation thereto” I mean that my paper will first speak of myself—my +personality and my belongings—and then recall to your memory a few of +those changes and events of interest which have taken place in my +neighbourhood and surroundings. + +Perhaps I ought to apologize for bringing before such a learned branch of +the Church of England Young Men’s Society, as is this its Literary Class, +so many familiar facts and events as are here alluded to. But +nevertheless, I have thought that there might be some considerable +interest in grouping and recalling to our minds a few such items +connected with one city centre, and especially as they might be supposed +to be noted by such an eyewitness as I have suggested myself to be. A +knowledge of our city, of its specialities, its changes, and +developments, is always good mental store. And although it might be +said—are not many of these things to be found recorded in the City +Archives, and in the volumes of City History? yet almost certainly many +of the members of this class will not have studied these. And therefore, +it may fairly be hoped that this little paper may stimulate the +historical bump of some of the brains here present, and arouse in them a +desire to further study such archæological facts and local histories. + +And here let me quote some lines of the Suffolk poet, Bernard Barton, in +reference to the survey or study of past events or history. He says:— + + “No useless, or ignoble toil, + To him who in ‘the past’ delights, + Seems it—from dark Oblivion’s spoil + To cull whate’er our taste invites, + Of by-gone legends, parted rites, + In earlier days believ’d as true; + And bid our old ‘Historic Sites’ + Peopled afresh, to charm anew. + + “That is no true Philosophy + Which does not love at times to trace, + With glowing heart and moisten’d eye, + Time honoured haunts, whose chiefest grace + Is to have been _their_ dwelling-place + Whose names in history’s page are shrined, + Whose memories time can ne’er erase + From many a fond admiring mind.” + +Well—my _name_ and _title_ is + + THE TOWER OF ST. GILES’S CHURCH, + +_and as such I shall speak of some of the many things which I have seen_. + +As you may suppose, from the prominent position which I—the Tower—have +for so many centuries occupied in this old city of ours, I have long +since ceased to suffer from the undue modesty which so often accompanies +equally deserving but less conspicuous merit. I can only hope that you +will agree with my reasons for anticipating from you some of that +appreciation and interest which I certainly take in myself. And I +propose to introduce my subject in the novel way of speaking of myself as +personal, and as having noted, during my long life, various matters to +which I shall call your attention. + +As an introduction, I am proud to think that I need only say, once again, +that I am the Tower of St. Giles’s Church, Norwich. And surely there +cannot be many of our citizens who are in the habit of passing up our +broad street, St. Giles’s (the lower Newport as it used to be called), +who have not been struck with the fine proportions of my structure, +standing as I do at the head of this fine thoroughfare, and looking and +being an object of admiration for my beauty and my striking position. +Many are the beautiful views which I present to the passer-by in the +varying lights of the day, but my beauty and grandeur are, I think, seen +best of all, when in the evening the sun is setting behind me in the +west, or the moon with her paler light throws down along the length of +the main street of St. Giles, those shadows, which—produced by my +intervening tower—are so well worthy of the admiration of all who have +eyes to see, and minds to appreciate, the glory of evening views. {101} + +Let me say here in passing that Saint Giles, the saint after whom I am +named, appears to have lived in France; and history relates that he was +adopted as the typical Patron of the crippled portion of humanity from +his being himself lame, and from his having been said to have effected a +miraculous cure of a sick beggar. As such Patron, parishes which, like +mine, were located on the outskirts of towns, have frequently been given +the name of St. Giles, as having had the duty, in the olden time from +their position, of contributing to the needs of passing wayfarers, and of +those requiring Christian charity. And thus, in Norwich, not only was my +own parish named after this saint, but the so-called “Old Man’s +Hospital,” in Bishopgate Street, at the other end of the city, was also +formerly called St. Giles’s Hospital. + +Well, I am the Tower of St. Giles’s Church, and I have stood in my +present position for at least five hundred years, having been built (or +rather rebuilt) in the time of King Richard the Second (who ceased to +reign in 1399). I am twenty-six feet square, and I am also one of the +tallest church towers in Norwich. And not only so, but I stand in one of +the most conspicuous positions in the city, on the top of St. Giles’s +Hill. I am a square Tower, built like the adjoining Church, largely of +flint stone, nearly 120 feet high, battlemented at the top, and having +also a small cupola or bell-cup in the centre of my roof, with a +conspicuous weather-cock above this. In earlier times, in consequence of +my height and conspicuous position, I was used as a Beacon-tower, _i.e._ +a pail containing fuel was hung at one of my corners, ready to be lighted +as a danger signal in case of invasion or other serious emergency. Such +a beacon, as you may know, was often called a “Cresset,” from the French +“_Croisette_,” which was a pail with a cross on its top. + +I am proud of my public spirit and loyalty, for on royal and other +special occasions, I raise on my summit a tall flag-staff, and float from +it a large and handsome flag. In this, I am sorry to say, I have too few +imitators or companions amongst our church towers, perhaps for the reason +that even such loyalty as this is expensive, and costs, I am told, some +few shillings for each such display. Amongst my various public uses, you +have probably all seen soldiers from the barracks on my roof practising +flag-drill in connection with others in Chapel Field. + +I have said that I am largely built of flint stone, which is of a very +enduring nature. In consequence I am thankful to say that I have a very +excellent constitution, and have stood the wear and tear of a long life +without requiring much fortifying or repairing. I can only venture to +hazard the bold suggestion that my excellent health may also, in some +mysterious way, have been due to the near presence of so many Norwich +doctors, residing as they have so largely done in the neighbouring Bethel +and St. Giles’s Streets!! At any rate, for a long time past I had +scarcely wanted professional assistance, until about two years ago, when +two of my windows (or eyes, as I call them) needed technical help and +repair. + +Speaking of flint for building, we all know that some of the finest flint +work in the kingdom is to be seen in this city, notably in St. Miles’s +Church, and in a wall in Bridewell Alley. My flint work is inferior to +these, but still handsomely faced. No doubt the large use of flint stone +in building our Norwich churches was due to the abundant supply of this +material which has existed in the neighbourhood. And with regard to +myself it may well have been that my flints, or some of them, may have +been extracted from the ancient chalk excavations which until lately +existed just beyond St. Giles’s Gates. Mr. Walter Rye, as you perhaps +know, has also suggested that flints from these caves may have been used +in the building of both the Cathedral and the Norwich Castle. + +As curiously illustrating local specialities, one of my parishioners has +told me that when travelling some few years ago in Cornwall, where +granite and other hard rocks prevail, but no gravel or flints, he asked +one of the residents whom he met, if she knew of flint stones, to which +she replied, “Oh! yes, I know flints, I have seen one in the Museum at +Torquay.” I much fear that not even one flint is to be seen in our grand +Museum on the Castle Hill! + +Whilst on the subject of myself (the Tower), I may mention THE CLOCK, +which has so long existed on my eastern face, and which, judging from the +constant reference made to it by the passing throngs, is an undoubted +public boon. To the parish it is a source of some expense. + +This Clock was restored and re-coloured at the general restoration of the +Church in 1865–6, when the figure of _Old Time_, holding a scythe in his +hand (as many of us will remember), was removed. The Clock face and +Clock hands do not look to the passer-by to be very large; but I find, on +measurement, that the diameter of the Clock face is 10 ft., that the +Roman letter numbers on it measure 1½ ft., that the length of the large +hand is 6 ft. 5½ in., with a weight of 21 lbs., and that of the small +hand 3 ft. 4 in., with a weight of 8 lbs. My Clock has belonging to it a +special Clock Bell. + +Then, as to my contents. As this is an Autobiography, and as all +Autobiographers are necessarily egotistical, you must allow me to dwell a +few minutes more upon my personal specialities. And first, as to my +_Peal of Bells_, eight in number, which are naturally of great interest +to myself, and which hold a high place among the various peals of +Norwich. These, according to the high authority of the late Mr. +L’Estrange, were placed in me between the years 1593, or earlier, and +1738, and they were renovated and restored in 1870, at the expense of +Messrs. Browne, Bridgman, and Firth, parishioners of St. Giles. (One of +these bells is what is called a _Gabriel_ Bell—the “Angel Gabriel brought +the good tidings to the Virgin Mary.”) And think for a moment what +phases of life these bells have taken part in during all these hundreds +of years. I find that since 1538, when our parish registers begin, some +2,524 entries of _marriage_ have been made in them. And it is reasonable +to suppose that at a fair proportion of these, especially in earlier +times, my bells have rung out their merry chimes, and in their special +language have wished all joy and happiness to the newly wedded pairs. +You remember how Byron speaks of this: “And all went merry as a marriage +bell.” + +On the other hand, during the same period, or, rather, up to 1856, when +interments in the Churchyard ceased by Act of Parliament, _i.e._ in 318 +years, nearly ten thousand (9,770, as roughly counted) entries of +_burials_ here are made in the parish register books. And it is almost +certain that one of my bells has announced first the fact of the death, +and then that of the mournful ceremony of interment, in each of these +cases. Just think, as I do, of all these ten thousand dead lying at my +foot, waiting, as Baring Gould has so beautifully said, for the +“Resurrection morning,” when “soul and body meet again.” Such an +accumulation of mortal remains in so limited a space may well arouse much +and solemn reflection. How well a Suffolk poet reverently describes such +a disused graveyard as mine now is, where he says:— + + “The gathered ashes of long centuries rest; + A few _white_ tombstones and a few _dim-gray_, + Mark names that have not yet quite passed away.” + +Nor can I fail to quote to you Gray’s beautiful words, so applicable to +such a disused churchyard:— + + “Hark! how the sacred calm, that breathes around, + Bids every fierce tumultuous passion cease, + In still small accents whispering from the ground, + A grateful earnest of eternal peace.” + +The graveyard of St. Giles, which lies beneath and around me, is, as I +have already said, no longer used for burials. It is quite full and +crowded with graves and many memorial tombstones. The names upon these, +as far as legible, are fully and completely given in the book which has +been published by a parishioner of mine, {106} upon the “Parish of St. +Giles.” + +It is historically interesting to know that the burial registers, by the +increased number of interments in some of the long past years, point +unmistakably to the prevalence in Norwich at those times of the dread +Pestilence or Plague, which is recorded as having ravaged the city from +time to time. Thus, in 1603, no less than 112 persons were buried here; +and in 1666, some 79—both of these “Plague years”—instead of a normal +average of twenty or thirty. As you may suppose, I (the Tower) shared +acutely in the distress which then reigned in the city, intensified as it +was to me by the fact of three or four burials occasionally taking place +here in the same day. In some other years, an increase of burials may +probably have arisen from this place of mortal rest having been a +favourite one, and, therefore, selected for the interment of some who had +not been resident in the parish. This was certainly so in the fifty +years preceding the closure of the churchyard, when fifty, sixty, or +seventy were often annually interred here. + +But to return to my bells. The perpetuation of the old custom of ringing +each night what is called the _Curfew Bell_ in my Tower is well known to +us all. This Curfew ringing is now an anachronism, but it doubtless was +a great boon at the time of its foundation, seeing that so many legacies +were left in various places, as here, for the purpose of having a +“Curfew” rung each night in perpetuity. + +My Curfew Bell, instituted and endowed in 1457, by Mr. John Colston, and +who was buried in St. Giles’s Church, has now rung continuously for some +450 years. And although some people may think this evening tolling of a +bell for a quarter of an hour a nuisance, it has in this particular case +this merit, that it acts, or has done, as a sort of daily almanac, seeing +that the day of the month is told at the end of the quarter of an hour’s +ringing, each evening, by a number of strokes on a different bell, +corresponding to the day of the month. + +The name “Curfew,” you doubtless know to be derived from the French +_Couvre-feu_, or cover fire. And also that the custom in olden times of +a public ringing of a bell, or sounding a horn, for the putting out of +fires and retiring into houses for the night, arose from the out-door +dangers of those less civilised times, and from the inflammable nature of +many of the wooden and thatched houses then existing. One such fire in +Norwich (in 1507) is said to have destroyed seven hundred houses, +including many in my own parish. Who does not know Gray’s lines on this +Curfew custom? + + “The Curfew tolls the knell of parting day, + The lowing herd winds slowly o’er the lea; + The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, + And leaves the world to darkness and to me.” + +And we doubtless also remember Longfellow’s beautiful verses on this old +custom:— + + “Solemnly, mournfully, + Dealing its dole, + The Curfew Bell + Is beginning to toll. + + “Cover the embers, + And put out the light; + Toil comes with the morning, + And rest with the night. + + “Dark grow the windows, + And quenched is the fire; + Sound fades into silence; + All footsteps retire. + + “No voice in the chambers, + No sound in the hall; + Sleep and oblivion + Reign over all!” + +With all this, and what I have now said, I think I may claim that I—the +Tower—have fully discharged the general duty of public usefulness, and am +a great public benefactor. My beacon pail is no longer required; but by +my weather-cock I tell the direction of the wind; by my clock I tell the +time of day; and by the final strokes of my curfew bell at night, I act +as an almanac, and tell the day of the month—for the benefit not only of +my neighbours, but to the great multitude of the passers-by. {108} And +let it not be forgotten that all this implies not only the discharge of +public duty, but also the expenditure of money, necessary to keep the +various arrangements for these in correct and working order—money which +has to be provided by the parish of St. Giles. + +Opinions as to the desirability of the ringing of the _Church Bells_ in +towns differ, as we know, considerably. And every now and then we read a +letter in a newspaper in condemnation of them. But I believe that those +who think thus are in a very small minority. I have said how well they +emphasize such occasions as weddings, and funerals. And I think they +most appropriately add to the expression of public rejoicing on such +occasions as the election of a new Mayor, or a royal visit, or a royal +anniversary—or especially on the eve of such a great Christian festival +as Christmas or Easter. But beyond all this, I (the Tower) consider that +they are in the best sense public music, and that when well rung this +music is of a very high order indeed. Who does not recognise the +grandeur of the great twelve-bell peal of St. Peter Mancroft, as rung by +the skilled ringers of that church, or the solemnity imparted to a public +mourning by the muffled peal occasionally rung, on the departure from +this world of some great local or national citizen? + +In country villages I know that the possession of a good peal of church +bells is usually very highly appreciated, and the practice of the ringing +cannot be otherwise than an excellent musical training for the young men +of the parish. + +It is curious how little regard _Jackdaws_ pay to the noise of clanging +bells. In my tower, as elsewhere, they habitually build their nests, and +rear their young, apparently quite free from alarm at the noise. From +their constant selection of church towers as breeding places, may we not +suppose that these birds have ears for music, or may even practice +singing amongst their family parties, to the accompanying chimes? + +I have windows on all four of my sides, and until lately (1866), when the +Church was so thoroughly restored, I had an eye in my lower eastern +portion which enabled me to view the changes which have taken place in +the interior of the Church. Long, long ago, I noted the dilapidation of +the Chancel, and its final demolition and removal (in 1581), on a bargain +being made by which the parish was allowed to take all the remaining +lead, stone, and other materials (for some parochial charity) belonging +to it, on condition that the Dean and Chapter were no longer to be held +liable for its repair. This _Chancel_ I had the pleasure of seeing +rebuilt in 1866, mainly through the beneficence of Rev. Canon Ripley, +then incumbent of the vicarage, when also the Church was finely restored, +and reseated. + +You are aware that the years 1903–4 represent the five-hundredth +anniversary of the giving of a Mayor to the City of Norwich. Several St. +Giles’s inhabitants have held this important office, as well as that of +Sheriff, during all those centuries, but I will only specially mention +the names of _Richard Purdaunce_ and of _Robert Baxter_, who were very +early Mayors, in 1420 and 1424 respectively, and who were interred in the +nave of this Church, with brasses over their tombs. These still remain, +and are of considerable interest as showing the costumes of the period. + +And now as to the parish of St. Giles itself, in which I stand, I cannot +but recall with satisfaction the large number of residents who have been +in their day most important and influential citizens in various +departments of life. As public men I will only mention the names of a +few such departed neighbours whose careers and public services I have +watched. Let us only recall the names (given alphabetically) in public +life of such examples as Baxter, Beevor, Bolingbroke, Cadge, Chapman, +Churchman, Cole, Crosse, Day, Foster, Herring, Kinghorn, Johnson, +Lubbock, Offley, Purdaunce, Ranking, Rigby, Suffield, Taylor, Wilkins; or +as ornaments of the literary and artistic world, such names as Brand, +Blomefield, Borrow, Crossgrove, Charlotte Elizabeth, Daniel, Ninham—and +now we may add that of Bateman. This, you will agree with me, is a +goodly list, and marks out St. Giles’s parish as having been one of the +most important residential districts in the city, and as having largely +contributed to its welfare and general reputation. And in this regard we +may well regret that so many of the fine parish residences have been or +are being absorbed by public companies or other bodies; and that in +consequence, the most actively important men of the city are gradually +being driven to other and more distant localities. And we may even note +here how the neighbouring and almost historical old “Norfolk Hotel” has +been swept away, and its site occupied by a modern variety theatre. + +Further, as a sign of the times, I may mention to you a spot in St. +Giles’s Street, situated behind “Mortimer’s Hotel,” which was long known +as “_Mack’s Yard_.” Mr. Mack was for a long period the enterprising +proprietor of some carrier waggons, which made a weekly journey to and +from London, carrying parcels and goods. This was in the days when the +stage coaches to London occupied two days in the journey; and when the +starting of these coaches, as well as of Mack’s waggons, was an +interesting incident of Norwich life. + +So much for my immediate personal relations. Let me now look a little +further around and beyond me. + +No doubt, almost everyone present this evening, when crossing Mousehold +Park, or when passing along the roads on the outskirts of the city, will +have noted how I—the Tower—stand out more prominently than any other +object than the Castle or the Cathedral spire. And, on the other hand, +those of our younger citizens who may have ascended to my summit, can +bear testimony to the wide and expanded views from it of the surrounding +country. In fact, I command a view, not only of much of the city, but +also of the neighbourhood for many miles around. And this commanding +position has enabled me to note most of those great changes, and +improvements, which have taken place—by slow degrees and with many +fluctuations—in the city generally. And, of course, I have keenly felt +the change in my own position which the recent spread of the city all +around me has produced. Not so very long ago I was situated in its very +outskirts, and very close to the boundary City Walls. Now, I am almost +in the heart of Norwich, and from my summit I can see the lines of houses +extending a mile or more beyond me, and, I fear, detracting by their +extent from the conspicuous dignity of the position which I had so long +enjoyed. + +Of the many more distant but important Norwich events of the past +centuries, which from my lofty position I have been enabled to witness, I +will only mention two or three which have specially impressed me, thus:— + +In King Edward VI.’s reign, I was able to note many of the incidents +connected with Kett’s Rebellion. + +A little later, I saw the reflection of the fires at the Lollard’s pit, +when Bilney and others were there burnt for their religious opinions. + +I saw the processions attending the visits to Norwich of Queen Elizabeth, +and of King Charles II. And you will remember that it was on this latter +occasion that our distinguished citizen, Sir Thomas Browne, to whom we +have so recently erected a statue, received the honour of Knighthood from +his Sovereign. + +Then again, I was cognizant of the blowing down of the Cathedral spire, +during a great storm, in 1601; and of the spire of the St. Andrew’s Hall +tower. + +And, shall I say, with how much regret in quite later times, I witnessed +the riotous and disgraceful scenes which took place at some of the +Parliamentary elections held in Norwich—followed, as we know, by the +exciting but not too pleasant “Chairing” of the elected candidates. + +In my more immediate neighbourhood I have watched the foundation (in +1714) and the subsequent career of that beautiful example of Christian +charity, the well-known Bethel Hospital for the poorer class of insane +patients. We all know that in those earlier times, simply to remove from +the general community and to house those suffering from mental +derangement, was all that was known to be able to be done for those thus +afflicted. But I have been charmed to note from my window-eyes how +greatly their treatment has been improved in latter times, and to watch +with pathetic interest the great changes which have been made, and are +still continually being made, for the comfort and recreation and general +welfare of the patients in this beneficent institution. {113} + +Very numerous and historically important are the changes and advances and +improvements which have taken place in our city during the last 150 +years, and which I have witnessed from my lofty summit. + +In 1770, I saw the first _Norfolk and Norwich Hospital_ built, and I have +seen the old building replaced (in 1879–1881) by a larger and handsomer +structure. + +In 1792, I saw our _St. Giles’s Gate_, along with many others, taken down +and removed; whilst, in 1867, I saw much of the neighbouring _City Wall_ +demolished, only a small piece of it being left in the Chapel Field Road, +and in the adjacent “Duck Lane.” + +You will remember that this defensive wall was built around the city +between the years 1294 and 1319, and was broken down between the St. +Stephen’s and St. Giles’s Gates by Earl Warwick’s army, in the time of +Kett’s Rebellion. + +Then I have seen numerous churches and chapels, factories, and other +large buildings, arise in various parts of the city—these latter +including the Norwich Union Workhouse, the Jenny Lind Infirmary, and (in +the far distance) the Hellesdon Asylum. + +I have also witnessed the laying-out of the new Norwich Cemetery, and its +more recent enlargement. And at my very foot I have noted the erection +of our Volunteer Drill Hall, and the removal of the old City Gaol. The +closure of this latter, and of the Castle as a prison, and their +replacement by a single model prison on Mousehold Hill, marking the +advances of the times and the progressive development of political +humanity. + +Of the grand Castle Museum, which is in my full view, I need say nothing. +Its influence in spreading knowledge, and in developing the higher and +better faculties of the mind, are obvious to all. I am pleased to learn +of the interest taken in it by the public, as shown by the visiting of it +by the more than 100,000 persons who annually resort to it. + +If I do not weary you, I would now like to claim your attention for a +very few minutes to what may fairly be termed my “Home Circle,” that is, +to the events which I have witnessed immediately around me in _recent_ +times. Several of these have been closely connected with the +neighbouring “_Chapel Field_,” formerly a real and open field, but now a +charming recreation garden, and one of the beauty spots of our city, with +the present handsome palisading around it, erected in 1866. The avenues +of trees which adorn this field are, or were, one of its great features. + +And it is worth noting that Norwich history relates that the main west +avenue was planted in 1746 by Sir Thomas Churchman, then a resident in +St. Giles’s parish and an important citizen. The ordinary age of elm +trees is (I believe) not greatly more than a century and a-half, and +consequently some of these trees have decayed in their branches or +trunks. But until a few months ago a long row of the elms towered up to +their eighty or ninety feet of height, in great beauty and apparent +vigour. I need not say with what pain I looked down upon the process of +lopping and topping which was carried out upon these, or how I grieved +over such a dire necessity for this operation as was alleged to exist. + +One other example of tree grandeur existed until the other day in the +northern avenue, namely, a splendid specimen of the _Aspen Poplar_, +towering nearly one hundred feet high, and an object of extreme beauty to +all who could appreciate such arboreal grandeur. Even so long ago as +1841 this tree was figured by _Grigor_ in his work on “The Remarkable +Trees of Norfolk,” as a fine example of this poplar. And we may well +feel how the further sixty-three years of its life had added to its size, +its dignity, and its grandeur. I greatly regret that since the late +great gale it has been thought necessary to remove several of its upper +branches, and so destroy all its grandeur. But the old line, “Woodman, +spare that tree” for the greatest possible length of time was, I hope, +fully in the minds of those who presided over its fate. + +The splendid _Horse-Chestnut_ tree near the centre of the field is +familiar to us all, and I have watched its growth and circular uniformity +with pleasure and interest. + +This Chapel Field, as you may know, takes it name from a Chapel of St. +Mary, which formerly existed on the site of the present Theatre and High +School buildings. At that time the ground was really an open field; and +it seems to have been acquired by the Corporation in the sixteenth +century. + +Probably few, and perhaps none, of those present in this room, can +remember as I do the big water reservoir of the proprietors of the +Norwich Water Works of that date, which formerly existed in Chapel Field, +near its centre, on ground leased by them from the Corporation. This +reservoir was large, nearly three hundred yards in circumference, and had +on its north side a tower, into which water was forced to gain height for +supplying the higher portions of the city. It remained here from 1792 +until 1852, just sixty years, when the lease of the ground was +surrendered, the works demolished, and the new and enlarged reservoirs of +the present Norwich Water Works Company, at Lakenham, were substituted. + +I may mention here a rumour which reached me, and which I have no doubt +was true, that in April, 1852, the Corporation of Norwich proposed to +place the statue of Lord Nelson, which had just then been executed for +Norwich, “on an elegant fountain pedestal in the centre of this +reservoir,” which was then about to be disused. {117} + +I have, of course, noted many public events which have taken place in the +Chapel Field—martial, agricultural, and otherwise. But naturally, a +great impression has been made upon me by observing the historical visits +of their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales (now our +gracious King and Queen) in 1866 and 1884, on both which occasions they +entered Norwich by St. Giles’s Gates. The visit of 1866 was, as you will +remember, the first they had paid to Norwich, and they were then +entertained by Lord and Lady Stafford, at Costessey Hall. The royal +party then included the Queen of Denmark (mother of the Princess), and +the Duke of Edinburgh; and the procession entered our street under a +_triumphal arch_ erected on the site of the old St. Giles’s Gate. They +then attended a morning concert of the Musical Festival then being held; +and afterwards returned to Chapel Field, where the Prince and Princess +each planted a “Wellingtonia” tree, and afterwards formally opened the +new _Drill Hall_. + +In 1884 they again attended our Musical Festival, and entered and left +the city by St. Giles’s Street. + +On both these occasions I noted with great pleasure the large crowds of +citizens who lined the route of the processions, and the enthusiastic +manner in which they welcomed our royal visitors. + +All will remember the recent visit of T.R.H. the Duke and Duchess of York +(now the Prince and Princess of Wales), when they came to open our new +Castle Museum. But my views of the royal procession were from my +position unfortunately considerably limited. I am glad, however, to know +that one of my parishioners was Mayor of Norwich, and as such had the +honour to receive and entertain the distinguished party. + +I—the Tower—have several eyes, but no proper ears, only vibratory +sensations, and consequently can only hear indistinctly the sweet sounds +of the various bands and singers that now delight so many thousands of +Norwich citizens during the summer season in Chapel Field. But that +these musical entertainments are appreciated, I can _see_ by the large +numbers of persons who attend the concerts and listen to the music +provided for them. It is not to be doubted that these frequent musical +treats constitute a veritable branch of mental education. + +In the city generally, I have during the last half century noted the +opening of several parks and public recreation grounds, and I have +watched with pleasure the gradually increasing numbers of citizens, old +and young, who avail themselves of the opportunities which these afford +for obtaining fresher air, exercise, health, and vitality. Amongst +these, you may be sure of the special and daily delight I take in +watching the games and gymnastics of the children, in the corner of +Chapel Field just below me, which has been allotted to them, and which +was so kindly fitted up for them by the late Mr. Henry Birkbeck. + +I will only further say, of the many vast changes and items of social +progress in latter years, that I have seen with wonder and astonishment +the advent of steam carriages, and the opening in Norwich of three +railway stations, receiving trains, some of which have travelled more +than fifty miles an hour. Also that as an illuminant, I was long +familiar only with the use of oil, shedding its feeble light, this being +superseded by the gas derived from coal. But, quite recently, I have +opened my eyes to their widest to observe the lighting of our windows and +streets with electric light, and the working of tram carriages upon rails +through our main streets (including my own street of St. Giles) by means +of the electric current. + +Norwich generally, like other cities and towns, has in the centuries +marched along the line of steady and continuous developments. Such a +brief mention as I have made of some of these is all that can now be +given. To give a larger _local_ history of these latter eventful times +would occupy us too long, and would not only be tedious to such an +audience as this, but would be beyond my present purpose. I shall be +more than satisfied if, by the little I have said, I have shown how much +of interest there is in the study of even one locality in an ancient city +like Norwich, and in recalling some of the half-forgotten facts connected +more or less intimately with it; and if, as a secondary result, it should +create, or revive, in the members of this literary class a wish to +include amongst its contributed papers and subjects for future +consideration and discussion, that branch of literature which is included +under the name of local Archæology. For we must not forget that past +history includes the study, not only of work done and changes executed, +but also a consideration of the men, the human minds, through whose +agency this work and the resulting changes were carried out. And I trust +that we shall all agree with Dr. Johnson that “Whatever makes the past, +the distant, or the future, predominate over the present, advances us in +the dignity of human beings.” + +And I would venture here to quote the following from a late learned +writer on Norwich (Mr. Mark Knights), who has said: “Wonderful is the +amount of thought enveloped in the buildings and history of Norwich. +Would that every citizen had the power to evoke from the monuments of the +past the spirit which gave them form, that they might read their story.” + +Let me conclude by quoting the following opinion from the well-known +pages of “Gilbert White of Selborne,” with reference to such a local and +parochial history as I have ventured to place before you this evening. +This great authority expresses very strongly the view that “stationary +men should pay attention to the districts in which they reside, and +should publish their thoughts respecting the objects that surround them.” +And again, that a writer upon these (as he himself so learnedly was), if +he should “have lent a helping hand towards the enlargement of the +boundaries of historical and topographical knowledge; or if he should +have thrown even some small light upon ancient customs and manners, his +purpose would have been fully answered.” + +Gentlemen, it is for you to judge whether I have succeeded in placing +before you any interesting facts “respecting the objects which surround +us,” and have “contributed to the enlargement of the boundaries of +(_your_) historical and topographical knowledge.” + +I have expressed some opinions, and placed before you many facts. I hope +these may provoke some profitable comments or discussion. + +[Picture: Sir Thomas Browne] + + + + +X. +SIR THOMAS BROWNE. + + +A Paper read at a Meeting of the C.E.Y.M.S. Literary Class, on Monday, +March 12th, 1894. {121} + +I am glad to redeem my promise to read a paper before this Literary +Class, during this present session, upon one of our most noted British +Authors, and I have thought that I could not do better than to bring +before your notice one of those who literally resided at our very doors; +and whose works—if not so generally read as those of many other +writers—are not the less deserving of careful study, and will well repay +any time spent upon their perusal. In fact, I make bold to say that the +more they are studied, the more does the great learning displayed in them +impress itself upon us, and the more also does the high moral nature of +the Author make itself felt. I could well have wished that this brief +notice had been more elaborate and more worthy of the Author, but I may +well plead the great public demands which have recently been made upon my +time; and which often have been so numerous and so continuous, as to +leave but little time for literary work or thought, or indeed for +anything but the ordinary duties of each day as it comes round. The +Author whom I have selected for notice this evening is _Sir Thomas +Browne_, long a resident in this city, for many years a practising +physician here; a gentleman who enjoyed the highest reputation even in +his own lifetime, as a man of high character and great literary +attainments; who enjoyed personal and literary acquaintanceship with many +of the greatest men of his day; and whose works attracted the notice of +the learned and the great from the first moment of their public +appearance. + +The house in which Sir Thomas Browne resided is the one immediately +opposite to the entrance to this building; and a portion of it is now the +Norfolk and Norwich Savings Bank, just across the street. I am unable to +say how far Sir Thomas Browne’s house extended at the time of his +occupation of it; undoubtedly many of the buildings to the north and east +of it have been erected since his time; and as we are told of his +extensive garden adjoining it, it is probable that this latter extended +far up to, or possibly even on to Orford Hill. It is also believed that +he had another garden somewhere upon Mousehold. + +Sir Thomas Browne was not a native of Norwich, for he appears to have +been born in London in 1605. He settled in practice here in 1634 or +1636, and continued to reside here until 1682, when he died at the age of +77 years. He was buried in the chancel of St. Peter Mancroft church in +this city, and a tablet to his memory hangs on the adjoining wall, with a +notable inscription, which any of you can go and see for yourselves, but +which is too long for me to reproduce here. + +I am able to show you an engraving from a portrait of him which long hung +neglected in the Vestry Room of St. Peter’s, but which now occupies a +more worthy position on the walls of the Board Room of the Norfolk and +Norwich Hospital. {123} I can also show you a copy of the 7th edition of +his works, dated 1686. + +Sir Thomas Browne was knighted in 1671, on the occasion of a visit of +King Charles II. to this city. The King at first offered to confer this +honour upon the Mayor of Norwich, but his worship declining the +compliment, Dr. Thomas Browne was knighted in his stead. + +I have said that Sir Thomas Browne was buried in the Chancel of St. Peter +Mancroft Church. Here he appears to have rested in peace for nearly two +hundred years, when in 1840—as recorded by Mr. Fitch—(Proceedings of the +Archæological Institute, 1847) “Some workmen who were employed in digging +a vault in the Chancel of the Church of St. Peter’s Mancroft, Norwich, +accidentally broke, with a blow of the pick axe, the lid of a coffin, +which proved to be that of one whose residence within its walls conferred +honour on Norwich in olden times.” “The bones of the skeleton were found +to be in good preservation, particularly those of the skull; the hair +profuse and perfect, of a fine auburn colour, similar to that in the +portrait presented to the parish by Dr. Howman” (who in later times +occupied his house, now the Savings Bank). + +The coffin plate bore a Latin inscription, which was translated by the +late Mr. Firth, of this city, thus—“The very distinguished man, Sir +Thomas Browne, Knight, Doctor of Medicine, aged 77 years, who died on the +19th of October, in the year of our Lord, 1682, sleeping in this coffin +of lead, by the dust of his alchemic body transmuted it into a coffer of +gold.” + +You are all, doubtless, familiar with the fact that the skull of this +great man was then taken away, and finally presented to the Museum of the +Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, where, along with a lock of his hair, it +still remains, carefully preserved and held in high honour. And you have +doubtless heard and read of the efforts which have recently been made to +re-obtain possession of it and again consign it to its mother earth. The +numerous letters and papers which have appeared in the public press, +discussing this question, are also fresh in all your minds, and give +nearly every aspect of the matter. One good thing at least they have +affected, and that is, to bring Sir Thomas Browne’s name into greater +prominence than for many long years. And I have no doubt that this +incident, together with a reviving interest in the works of this great +Norwich writer and thinker, have resulted in his being more famous to-day +in Norwich than at any former period since that of his actual residence +here and of the years immediately following his decease. + +Much has been made, during this discussion, of a paragraph in Sir Thomas +Browne’s disquisition on urn-burial. He is said to have, almost +prophetically, described this incident of the removal of his own skull +from his tomb, when he wrote “to be _knaved_ out of our graves, to have +our skulls made drinking bowls, and our bones turned into pipes, to +delight and sport our enemies, are tragical abominations escaped in +burning burials.” But, I think the whole force of this extract is +removed by turning to Wilkin’s edition, where this passage runs, “to be +_gnawed_ (not knaved) out of our graves,” which clearly gives it a very +different meaning. + +Sir Thomas Browne married a few years after settling in Norwich (in +1641), a daughter of Edward Mileham, Esq., of Burlingham St. Peter, in +this county, and granddaughter of John Hobart, Esq., by whom he had ten +children. Of these ten, his eldest son, Dr. Edward Browne, became very +eminent in his profession. He practised in London, where he was made +Physician to King Charles II., and he was afterwards appointed Physician +to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, and later became President of the Royal +College of Physicians. + +Sir Thomas Browne appears to have enjoyed for many years a very +considerable practice in this city. But he was also an archæologist, a +naturalist, a studier of plants and animals. He had as personal friends +or literary correspondents such men as Sir Robert Paston, Sir Hamon +L’Estrange, Sir Kenelm Digby, John Evelyn, Sir William Dugdale, and +Bishop Hall, and he appears to have found time to carry on a very large +literary correspondence. He lived in Norwich from 1634 to 1682, which +included the dangerous times of the Stuarts, of the Long Parliament, and +of the Commonwealth. But he appears to have been a staunch Royalist. He +was knighted, as I have said, by King Charles II., on the occasion of his +visiting Norwich in 1671. + +Later in this year he was visited by the well-known Evelyn, whose oft +quoted passage respecting him runs thus—“My Lord Henry Howard . . . would +needs have me go with him to Norwich, promising to convey me back after a +day or two; this, as I could not refuse, I was not hard to be persuaded +to, having a desire to see that famous scholar and physitian, Dr. T. +Browne, author of the ‘Religio Medici,’ and ‘Vulgar Errors,’ etc., now +lately knighted.” And he adds, “Next morning I went to see Sir Tho. +Browne (with whom I had some time corresponded by letter, tho’ I had +never seen him before). His whole house and garden being a paradise and +cabinet of rarities, and that of the best collections, especially +medails, books, plants, and natural things. Amongst other curiosities, +Sir Thomas had a collection of the eggs of all the foule and birds he +could procure. . . . He led me to see all the remarkable places of this +ancient citty being one of the largest, and certainly, after London, one +of the noblest of England, for its venerable Cathedrall, number of +stately churches, cleanesse of the streetes, and buildings of flints, so +exquisitely headed and squared, as I was much astonished at. . . . The +Castle is an antique extent of ground, which now they call Marsfield, and +would have been a fitting area to have placed the ducal palace on. The +suburbs are large, the prospects sweete, with other amenities, not +omitting the flower gardens, in which all the inhabitants excel. The +fabric of stuffs brings a vast trade to this populous towne.” + +Sir Thomas Browne was, as is evident from even a cursory study of his +works, a great student. He understood most of the European languages, +Latin and Greek critically, and a little Hebrew, and it is quite certain +that he must have studied carefully, not only the Christian Scriptures, +but also the works of many of the ancient fathers of the Christian +Church. His memory of what he had read must have been prodigious. But +though he was so learned a man, a traveller, a student of languages, a +naturalist, a medical practitioner, and in many respects doubtless ahead +of his time, yet a sad blot exists upon his generally great character, +and scientific acumen. I allude to the evidence which he gave at Bury +St. Edmund’s, in 1664, at the trial before Lord Chief Baron Hale, of two +women for witchcraft. Sir Thomas appears to have been a firm believer in +witches and witchcraft, and the declaration which he made to this effect +“was thought to have had no small influence in occasioning the +condemnation of the wretched victims, whose execution was one of the +latest instances of the kind by which the English annals are disgraced.” + +After his death his widow resided in his house until her death. Then it +was occupied by Dr. Howman, who presented the portrait of the knight to +St. Peter’s Mancroft. A large portion of his letters and manuscripts +passed into the hands of Sir Hans Sloane, and are now in our National +Library at the British Museum. + +During this present century the house has been dismantled and converted +to its new purposes, and its fittings dispersed. A handsome carved +mantel-piece, removed from one of the rooms by the builder, is now in the +possession of Mr. Henry Birkbeck, of Stoke; and the very keys of the +house were long treasured as relics by the late Mr. Barker, of Thorpe +Hamlet. + +But I must not dwell longer upon his personality and personal history, +interesting though they be, in the light of his being a Norwich man, and +the most famous of Norwich authors. If you wish to know more of his +biography, you will find it all excellently given in the memoir of him +written by Dr. Samuel Johnson, and which, together with a supplemental +memoir by Simon Wilkin, is prefaced to the edition of his works in three +volumes, published by Bohn in 1852, and edited by Wilkin. + +We must next consider to what Sir Thomas Browne owes his great literary +fame, and upon what his claims rest for being one of this city’s most +eminent citizens. + +Sir Thomas Browne was a very voluminous writer, and he touched a great +variety of subjects. The greatest of his works, the one which was +published soon after his settling in Norwich, was undoubtedly that to +which he gave the name of “_Religio Medici_”—the religion of a physician; +implying thereby, not “that physicians have a religion to themselves, but +that physicians have religion as well as other men.” It immediately +attracted the attention of the most learned in the land, and it is +certainly the production upon which his literary fame most largely +depends. It is quaintly written, full of odd phrases, original thoughts, +and peculiarities of diction, but equally full of fine sentiments and +expressions of confident religious faith. It is a work often so quaint +in its diction, so stilted in its modes of expression (as indeed was +common in those days), and so interlarded with specialized or new-coined +words, that it is somewhat difficult to read and understand. But its +high qualities and beauties are so great that it richly repays the +trouble of mastering its style; and I venture to assert that the +greatness of its sentiments and thoughts grows upon one by perusal, and +that the oftener it is read the more greatly will it be appreciated. + +To show what was thought of it from the first, it had, by the year 1736, +passed through fourteen editions, and had also been translated into +Latin, French, Dutch and German. + +Now let me briefly quote a few passages from this “_Religio Medici_,” to +show the views and opinions upon the Christian religion which are therein +set forth. + +First, Sir T. Browne says, “I dare without usurpation assume the +honourable style of a Christian, not that I merely owe this title to the +font, or any education . . . but that having in my riper years and +confirmed judgement, seen and examined all, I find myself obliged by the +principles of grace, and the law of mine own reason, to embrace no other +name but this.” + +Again, whilst professing himself a member of the reformed faith, he shows +the great charity of his mind by saying “I could never divide myself from +any man upon the difference of an opinion, or be angry with his judgement +for not agreeing with me in that from which perhaps within a few days I +should dissent myself.” + +And speaking of Death, he says “I hold the same conceit (of the soul) +that we all do of the body, that it should rise again,” and in all +humility he adds “so that I might enjoy my Saviour at the last, I could +with patience be nothing almost unto eternity.” + +As for the many difficulties and mysteries of our religion, he expresses +an almost blind faith in all that is written. He writes “I desire to +exercise my faith in the difficultest point: for to credit ordinary and +visible objects, is not faith, but pursuasion;” again, he craves by faith +“that greater blessing pronounced to all that believe and saw not,” +adding “God hath not made a creature that can comprehend him; ’tis a +privilege of his own nature. ‘_I am_, _that I am_,’ was his own +definition unto Moses; and ’twas a short one to confound mortality, that +durst question God, or ask him what he was.” + +Speaking of natural, as a confirmation of revealed religion, he says +“there are two books from whence I collect my divinity. Besides that +written one of God, another of his servant nature, that universal and +publick manuscript, that lies expansed unto the eyes of all.” . . . “Nor +do I so forget God as to adore the name of nature, which I define not, +with the schools, to be the principle of motion and rest, but that +straight and regular line, that settled and constant course the wisdom of +God hath ordained the actions of his creatures, according to their +several kinds.” + +And as a comfort to the comparatively weak, he says, in speaking of +Christian martyrs, “’Tis not in the power of every honest faith to +proceed thus far, or to pass to Heaven through the flames. . . . Yet men +may, notwithstanding, in a peaceful way, truly adore their Saviour, and +have, no doubt, a faith acceptable in the eyes of God.” + +These extracts are quite sufficient to show you the tone in which this +great work was written; and to disprove the allegation made by some +against Browne of having written an Atheistical book. It is remarkable +that it was placed by the Roman Church in the _Index Expurgatorius_. + +Sir Thomas Browne wrote yet another religious or semi-religious book, +which was entitled “_Christian Morals_.” It is very different in style +from the one just mentioned, and the manner is more that of proverbs or +aphorisms. + +He commences by saying “Tread softly and circumspectly in this . . . +narrow path of goodness; pursue virtue virtuously; leaven not good +actions, nor render virtue disputable.” Again, “In this virtuous voyage +of thy life . . . let not disappointment cause despondency, nor +difficulty despair.” “Rest not in an ovation, but a triumph over thy +passions. Let anger walk hanging down the head; let malice go manacled, +and envy fettered after thee.” + +“Be charitable before wealth make thee covetous, and lose not the glory +of the mite. If riches increase, let thy mind hold pace with them, and +think it not enough to be liberal, but munificent. Though a cup of cold +water may not be without its reward, yet stick not thou for wine and oil +for the wounds of the distressed.” + +“Let not the law of thy country be the _non ultra_ of thy honesty. . . . +Join Gospel righteousness with legal right.” + +“Let not the sun go down upon thy wrath, but write thy wrongs in ashes. +Draw the curtain of night upon injuries, shut them up in the tower of +oblivion, and let them be as though they had not been. To forgive our +enemies, yet hope that God will punish them, is not to forgive enough.” + +“Think not that always good which thou thinkest thou can always make +good, nor that concealed which the sun doth not behold. There is no +darkness unto conscience; which can see without light, and in the deepest +obscurity give a clear draught of things, which the cloud of +dissimulation hath concealed from all eyes.” + +As final quotations from “_Christian Morals_” let me give these +sentences, “Bright thoughts, clear deeds, constancy, fidelity, bounty, +and generous honesty, are the gems of noble minds,”—and + +“Live happy in the Elysium of a virtuously composed mind. . . . +Tranquility is better than jollity, and to appease pain than to invent +pleasure. . . . Forget not the capital end, and frustrate not the +opportunity of once living. . . . Think every day the last, and live +always beyond thy account.” + +I want neither to tire you, nor to read you a sermon at second-hand. So +having now shown you the religious side of Browne’s character, let me +give you some idea of his learning and acquirements and general industry. + +In his grand treatise on _Hydriotaphia_ or _Urn-burial_, which he wrote +consequent upon the discovery of some ancient sepulchral urns at Old +Walsingham, in Norfolk, he exemplifies the great stores of knowledge +which by his reading and memory he had accumulated. He quaintly prefaces +this treatise by saying, “Who knows the fate of his bones, or how often +he is to be buried? Who hath the oracle of his ashes, or whither they +are to be scattered?” And then he goes on to describe the various modes +of disposal of the dead in various ages, and among different nations. +For instance, he says that “Carnal interment or burying was of the elder +date,” as shown by the older examples of Abraham and the Patriarchs. +“But the practice of burning was also of great antiquity, and of no +slender extent.” And he illustrates this by the Grecian funerals of +Homer; the funeral pyre of Hector; and by early records of the practice +in various countries of Asia, in Rome itself, and in different countries +of both Europe and Africa. + +Touching the various modes of disposal of the dead, he says, “The Indian +Brachmans thought it the noblest way to end their days in fire. + +“The Chaldeans abhorred fire. + +“The Egyptians objected to the merciless consuming of their bodies by +fire, but preserved them, by precious embalments, depositure in dry +earths, or handsome enclosure in glasses. + +“The Scythians, who swore by wind and sword, declined all interment, and +made their graves in the air. + +“The Icthyophagi, or fish-eating nations about Egypt, affected the sea +for their grave. + +“The Chinese, without cremation of their bodies, made use of trees, and +much burning, while they plant a pine tree by their grave. + +“The Jews usually buried their dead, but occasionally admitted cremation, +as when Jabesh burnt the body of Saul, and as was their practice in times +of pestilence. + +“The Christians have preferred the practice of the Patriarchs, returning +their bodies, not to ashes, but to dust.” + +He then goes on to discuss the various customs in this respect of the +successive inhabitants of England; and he concludes his learned and +interesting treatise by saying, as to the hopes of Christians, and the +comparative unimportance of the mode of sepulture, “To subsist in lasting +monuments, to live in their productions, . . . was large satisfaction +unto old expectations. But all this is nothing in the metaphysicks of +true belief. To live indeed is to be again ourselves, which being not +only a hope, but an evidence in noble believers, ’tis all one to lie in +St. Innocents’ Churchyard, or in the sands of Egypt. Ready to be +anything, in the ecstasy of being ever, and as content with six foot (of +earth) as the _Moles_ of Adrianus.” + +But I must hurry on, and next very briefly call your attention to another +of his great works, that which he styled _Pseudodoxia Epidemica_, or +“Enquiries into many received tenets and presumed truths, which, +examined, prove but vulgar and common errors.” + +These “errors,” which he treats of in papers or treatises of various +lengths, are very numerous, and for even a cursory knowledge of them I +must refer you to the book itself. + +To give you an idea of the subjects, I will only mention a few of the +titles of the errors which he proceeds to refute:— + + That crystal is nothing else but ice strongly congealed, + That an elephant hath no joints, + That a pigeon hath no gall, + Of the Phœnix, + Of the Basilisk, + That a Salamander lives in the fire, + That an ostrich digesteth iron. + +Or, to take another class of subjects— + + That snails have no eyes, + Of the picture of Moses with horns, + That the forbidden fruit was an apple, + +and so forth. + +But though his tracts on these “vulgar errors” may, in many instances—and +looked at by the light of our present knowledge (and we must never forget +the immense difference in the scientific knowledge of the seventeenth and +nineteenth centuries)—appear not only quaint, but almost trivial, yet +even where the conclusion to the question discussed may appear to be +self-evident, and the reasoning thrown away, we often see an amount of +learning and research displayed which strikes us as quite remarkable. +For example, in discussing the “vulgar error,” _that the ostrich +digesteth iron_, he quotes the following writers in reference to +it:—Rhodiginus, Johannes Langius, Aristotle, Oppianus, Pliny, Œlian, Leo +Africanus, Fernelius, Riolanus, Albertus Magnus, and Ulysses +Aldrovandus—a list which may well make us stand astonished at the extent +of his studies, and cause us to say of him, even in such small matters, +“_Nihil tetigit quod non ornavit_.” It is almost needless to add that in +this case Sir Thomas arrived at the common-sense conclusion that although +ostriches may swallow iron they do not digest it. + +His greatest works were undoubtedly those which I have already mentioned. +But he wrote also a very noted book, entitled the _Garden of Cyrus_, in +which he discussed learnedly, and often fancifully, numerous questions +connected with the vegetable world. He reviewed the practice of +Horticulture, and the arrangements of gardens even from the first garden +mentioned—that of Eden in Paradise. He makes reference to the hanging +gardens of Babylon; the classical gardens of the Hesperides and of +Alcinous; and to the gardens and orchards, with their pools of water, of +King Solomon. And he discusses the various forms in which ancient +gardens were presumably laid out—dwelling largely upon the quincuncial +{135a} arrangements probably adopted. The whole book teems also with +allusions, showing his minute acquaintance with vegetable phenomena. + +As to King Cyrus, he says, “All stories do look upon Cyrus as the +splendid and regular planter.” + +Sir Thomas Browne also wrote _Some account of the tombs and monuments in +the Cathedral Church of Norwich_; and many papers on the birds, and +fishes, and vegetable life of Norfolk and other parts. {135b} But I +should indeed weary you, were I merely to enumerate to you the bare +titles of the long list of tracts and papers which his fertile brain +produced. + +Amongst his _Letters_, those to his sons, which will be found in Wilkin’s +Edition of his works, are worthy of mention as illustrating the special +bent of his mind, his wide range of thought, the peculiarity of his +advice, and the strength of his family attachments. + +The stilted and complimentary, as well as roundabout, epistolary style of +those days is well known. Thus, in writing to Mr. Evelyn, he begins: +“Worthy Sir,—In obedience unto the commands of my noble friend, Mr. +Paston, and the respects I owe unto so worthy a person as yourself,” or +again, addressing Dr. Merritt, he commences: “Most honoured Sir,—I take +the boldness to salute you as a person of singular worth and learning, +and whom I very much respect and honour,” or again, “Honoured Sir,—I am +sorry that I have had diversions of such necessity, as to hinder my more +sudden salute since I received your last.” + +To his sons he writes many letters. In these he addresses his eldest son +Edward as “Dear Sonne,” or “Dear Sonne Edward;” but those to his younger +son Thomas, always commenced “Honest Tom” or “Tom” only. + +Much of his advice to “Honest Tom” is peculiar although essentially sound +and practical. Thus he advises him, when a young man in France, in this +fashion: “I would be glad you had a good handsome garb of your body, . . . +and take up a commendable boldness, without which you will never be fit +for anything.” “Live soberly and temperately, the heat of the place +(Xaintes) will otherwise mischief you, and keep within in the heat of the +day.” “You may stay your stomach with little pastrys some times in cold +mornings, for I doubt sea larks will be too dear a collation and drawe +too much wine down.” + +Again, later on, he writes: “Bee sober and complacent. If you quit +periwigs it would be better, and more for your credit.” “Hee that goes +to warre must patiently submit unto the various accidents thereof.” And +that this “Honest Tom” was a worthy son and a fine English sailor we +learn from a passage in another letter to him at a latter period, when a +lieutenant of his Majesty’s ship the “Marie Rose.” He writes to his son: +“Mr. Scudamore, your sober and learned chaplaine, in your voyage with Sir +Jeremie Smith, gives you no small commendations for a sober, studious, +courageous, and diligent person; that he had not met with any of the +fleet like you, so civile, observing, and diligent to your charge, with +the reputation and love of all the shippe; and that without doubt you +would make a famous man and a reputation to your country.” + +We can only regret that this promising son did not live to fulfil the +high expectations formed of him. + +Finally reference may be made to a _Letter_, because stated to have been +previously unpublished, which may be found in the “Eastern Counties +Collectanea,” in which he exhaustively discusses the nature of _a large +fish-bone_ dug up at Cunnington, and which had been sent to him for his +opinion upon it. + +To sum up—Sir Kenelm Digby writes to Sir T. Browne, of the _Religio +Medici_ as “Your excellent piece, . . . of so weighty subjects, and so +strongly penned.” + +Dr. Johnson says of him “There is no science of which he does not +discover some skill; and scarce any kind of knowledge profane or sacred, +obstruse or elegant, which he does not appear to have cultivated with +success.” + +Carlyle says “The conclusion of the essay on urn burial is absolutely +beautiful; a still elegiac mood, so soft, so solemn and tender, like the +song of some departed saint flitting faint under the everlasting canopy +of night—an echo of deepest meaning from the great and mighty nations of +the dead. Browne must have been a good man.” + +Evelyn, as I have already quoted, writes of him as “That famous scholar +and physician.” + +And to come nearer home, the late Captain Blakiston, in a paper read +before the Archæological Institute, in Norwich, in 1847, writes of him as +a “Great Antiquarian and eminent citizen; . . . a quaint and original +thinker;” and as “Leaving behind him a shining reputation.” + +By general consent Sir Thomas Browne was recognised, not only as a +“curious thinker,” but as a man of remarkable and original talent even in +his lifetime, and the same reputation continued after his death. His +works have always been regarded as those of a strong and original +thinker, and they have never been held in higher estimation than at the +present time. And I think I may fairly repeat that the more his writings +are studied the more does their learning and power impress itself upon +our understanding. With many faults, with many shortcomings—as judged by +the standard of the present day—they yet remain the monument of genius, +and worthy to be classed amongst the highest productions of great and +cultivated intellects. + +Norwich may be well proud of so great a citizen—of one whose memory is +held in higher and yet higher esteem, and who is justly regarded as one +of the greatest of her literary men. + +Perhaps the only drawback to our satisfaction is the fact that he was not +a native of Norwich. And in this sense we cannot claim him as our own, +as we are proud to claim so many of our citizens, who have distinguished +themselves in literature, in science, in botany, in departments of +natural history, in medicine, and in painting. But Norwich can look upon +him with pride as an adopted son, as one who elected to live the whole of +his working life in this city; and who identified himself so absolutely +with it, that his name is inseparable from it, and who will be known for +all time as Sir Thomas Browne, of Norwich. + + * * * * * + +ADDENDUM.—On October 19th, 1905, the admirable statue by Mr. Henry Pegram +of Sir Thomas Browne, erected in the Norwich Haymarket, was unveiled by +Lord Avebury, in the presence of the Mayor and other city officials and +of a numerous company. This date was the tercentenary of the birth of +this great philosopher, and he was both born and died on the 19th +October. + + * * * * * + + JARROLD & SONS, LTD., + PRINTERS. + THE EMPIRE PRESS, NORWICH. + + + + +NOTES. + + +{16} 1908. For the last five or six years I have practically been an +abstainer, and my health has greatly improved in consequence. I am now +eighty-three years of age. + +{29} Read September 28th, 1886, and reprinted from the “Transactions of +the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society,” Vol. iv. + +{33} It is noticeable how they both do the same thing, in a precisely +similar way, at the same time, and this applies even to the attitudes +they assume. + +{36} April, 1887. They have just been again weighed, after their +winter’s hybernation; and their weight now is, respectively, 2 lbs. 7½ +ozs. and 2 lbs. 2½ ozs. Thus each of them has lost 2½ ozs. in the seven +months of quietude. + +{38} Read November 29th, 1892, and reprinted from the “Transactions of +the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society,” Vol. v. + +{44} Read before the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society, February +22nd, 1887, and reprinted from Vol. iv. of the Society’s “Transactions.” + +{53} Read before the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society, January +30th, 1900, and reprinted from Vol. vii. of the Society’s “Transactions.” + +{57} A further photographic view of this grand tree is given in the +second edition of this book, published in 1906: but before this time the +tree had been topped and shorn, and had lost the grandeur and beauty +which had made it so remarkable. + +{72} Read by the President, to the Members of the Norfolk and Norwich +Naturalists’ Society, at their Eighteenth Annual Meeting, held at the +Norfolk and Norwich Museum, March 29th, 1887.—Reprinted from Volume iv. +of the Society’s “Transactions.” + +{80} It is now known that the nodules found upon certain growing plants +are caused by germ growth, with the production of Nitrates and thereby a +fertilization of the soil. And it is worth noting that at the present +time (1908) it is being endeavoured to utilise this knowledge of aerial +nitrification by certain plants, by artificially applying a liquid +preparation of the germs which are the active agents in the process to +the seeds of these plants or to the growing crops. The results of such +applications, so far, are alleged to be effective and commercially +advantageous. + +{88} This grand Castle Museum was opened by their Royal Highnesses the +Duke and Duchess of York (now Prince and Princess of Wales) on October +23rd, 1894; and this Society’s meetings are now held in it. + +{90a} A Paper read at the Church in May, 1891, before the Norwich +Archæological Society. + +{90b} Kirkpatrick’s Streets and Lanes of Norwich. + +{97a} Described by Mr. Manning in Vol. x. of Archæological Society’s +“Transactions.” + +{97b} The large East Window of the Chancel has recently been filled with +a handsome design of stained glass, by Clayton and Bell, of London, and +presented by the Author. + +{99} Read before the “Literary and Debating Class” of the Church of +England Young Men’s Society, on March 7th, 1906. + +{101} Mr. T. West Carnie, in a little volume entitled, “In Quaint East +Anglia,” speaking of Norwich by night, says, “If Norwich is beautiful by +day, with the August sun kissing its red roofs, it is as lovely by night +under the beams of the harvest moon.” “Under the moonbeams Norwich makes +a pretty picture from whichever point it is viewed; and the effects in +some of the narrow streets are very wonderful. I mind me of one special +‘set,’ if I may so call it, namely that in which, from St. Giles’s lower +end, the street entirely in shadow, you look out westward upon the lofty +church tower sheeted in moonlight against a clear sky.” + +{106} The writer of this paper. + +{108} Further, it may be noted, that my clock is a striking clock, and +as such is of considerable value to the large body of workers who live +within sound of the bell, and who have to begin or return to their +employments at fixed times. + +{113} A very handsome and illustrated volume on the history of this +Bethel Hospital, by the late Sir Frederic Bateman and Mr. Walter Rye, has +recently (in 1906) been published. + +{117} Those who have read Mr. Hooper’s and Mr. B. Prior’s admirable +souvenir of the Nelson Centenary, so recently published, will remember +how it is there stated that this statue was at first placed in St. +Andrew’s Hall; then after a year or two was located in the Market Place, +near the Guildhall; and then in 1856 was removed to its present position +in the Upper Close. + +{121} Reprinted from the Society’s Journal. + +{123} This Portrait was reclaimed by and returned to the Churchwardens +of St. Peter’s in 1900. + +{135a} Quincunx—a square with a central object, as of five trees +arranged thus— + + x x + + x + + x x + +{135b} Since the above was written, an admirable volume has been +published by Mr. T. Southwell, upon Browne’s “Notes on the Natural +History of Norfolk.” + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ADDRESSES & PAPERS / COLLECTANEA*** + + +******* This file should be named 36952-0.txt or 36952-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/6/9/5/36952 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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