Morgan George Watkins

“ As a young man Fennell succeeded best in comic painting, but later in life was fonder of landscapes. In some of these, however, he was very careless, and was always unequal in his work. He drew pictures of the tournament at Eglinton Castle for the ‘Illustrated London News.’ His fondness for natural history displayed itself chiefly in observations on the habits of fish and waterside birds. These he carried on simultaneously with the practice of angling, of which he was a devoted follower, especially in the Thames. ”

“ Even at this early age he had earned a great reputation as an explorer, naturalist, archæologist, and linguist, and left behind a much greater promise of excellence. His amiable disposition, frank, unassuming manners, and thoroughly unselfish character greatly endeared him alike to Englishmen and to Syrian and Arabian peasants. His fellow-worker in Palestine, Lieutenant Conder, speaks of his ‘experience and just and honourable dealing,’ and testifies to his excellence as a companion in travel, his good nature, and his never indulging in personal quarrels. ”

“ Genial, sagacious, enthusiastic, always prone to look at the humorous side of a subject, Buckland aimed rather at enlisting the sympathies of others in his favourite studies than at acquiring the name of a profound writer on science. ”

“ Ellis seems to have been a shrewd man of business business, for he soon added to his income by frequently travelling as an agent for seeds and seller of farming implements; in short he was ready to execute any sort of country business at a fixed price. Many eager farmers, led hy his fame and his books, proceeded to visit Ellis's farm, but found, to their surprise and disappointment, that he did not carry out any of the views which he advocated in print, that his implements were old-fashioned, and that his land was neglected and in bad condition. ”

“ In his old age pecuniary losses forced him to sell a great part of his library and museum, and he began, at the age of eighty-one, his best-known book, a 'General History of Birds,' with the hope of recovering his financial position. He lived during the last years of his long life with his son-in-law at Winchester, devoted to nature, active, patient, cheerful to the end. ”

“ Although Wood says 'he laudably governed the see for about eight years,' his administration was somewhat halting and void of vigour, the weakness of age probably colouring his judgment and prompting him to love retirement. He exerted himself, however, to collect 250l. among the ministers of Devon and Cornwall for the use of Exeter College, whence his name is inserted in its list of benefactors. Oliver believes that either by his predecessor, Bishop Alley, or by him, portions of the palace at Exeter were taken down as being superfluous and burdensome to the diminished resources of the see. ”

“ Fitzgibbon made a great impression upon all who knew him by the brilliancy of his gifts. He possessed unblemished integrity, a kind and liberal disposition, much fire and eloquence, and the power of attaching to him many friends. From 1830 to the time of his death his writings had given a marvellous impulse to the art of fishing, had caused a great improvement in the manufacture and sale of fishing tackle, and largely increased the rents received by the owners of rivers and proprietors of fishing rights. ”

“ Franck is the first to describe salmon-fishing in Scotland, and both in that and trout-fishing with artificial fly he proves himself an excellent practical angler. His rules for fly-fishing, and especially for salmon-fishing, cannot be improved at present. Internal evidence shows that he had read the 'Compleat Angler;' indeed he tells us that he had argued with Walton at Stafford on the fact related by the latter of pickerel weed breeding pike, and that Walton laid it on Gesner and then 'huffed away.' Franck loses no opportunity of scoffing at him. ”

“ The dame is said to have spent her youth probably at the court, and to have shared m the woodland sports then fashionable, thus acquiring a competent knowledge of hunting, hawking, and fishing. Having withdrawn 'from the world, and finding plenty of leisure in the cloister after being raised to the position of prioress, it is next believed that she committed to writing her experience of these sports. As for fishing, if she were an active prioress, the exigencies of fasting days would demand that she should busy herself in the supply of fish required for the sisterhood. ”

“ He found time also to make himself a fair classical scholar, and to obtain a knowledge of the masterpieces of the English language. The collection of a good angling library formed a congenial entertainment to him. Francis established the Thames Rights Defence Association, throughout life advocated the cause of fish culture, and suggested the plan of ‘The National Fish-Culture Association,’ which has since been carried out. ”

“ The bishop still kept up his scholarship. In 1572 the Books of Moses were allotted to him to translate for the new edition of the Bishop's Bible, at least to one 'W. E.,' whom Strype takes for 'William Exon.' Hoker, however, says (Antique Description of Exeter) : 'He was a professor of divinity, but not taken to be so well grounded as he persuaded himself. He was zealous in religion, but not so forwards as he was wished to be.' In 1576, when papists on one side and schismatics on the other were troubling the church, a glimpse is obtained of Bradbridge's administration. ”

“ Findlater's books show him to have been well read in moral and political economy. He published: 1. 'Liberty and Equality; a Sermon or Essay, with an Appendix on Godwin's system of society in his "Political Justice,"' 1800. This sermon, preached at Newlands, was directed against the 'new doctrine of French philosophy, the monstrous doctrine of equality.' Few of his parishioners could have understood a word of it. Yet some sympathisers with the obnoxious doctrine attacked Findlater, and he was obliged to hide himself until the lord advocate, Sir James Montgomery, was able to appease the outcry. ”

“ No less than four dedications must be confronted, a preface, an address in rhyme to his book, four recommendatory poems by as many writers, and then another poem 'to the poet' by the author, before the book itself is reached. It is in the form of a dialogue between Theophanes, Agrippa (a servant) , Aquila (a friend) , and himself, under the name Arnoldus, and the style is bombastic, stilted, and pedantic to a degree, 'drawn from the rough draught of a martial pen,' as Franck himself describes it. ”

“ DONOVAN, EDWARD (1798–1837) , naturalist and author, fellow of the Linnean Society, seems in early life to have been possessed of a considerable fortune, and to have made collections of objects in natural history. At Dru Drury's death many of the insects which he had collected fell into Donovan's hands. ”

“ His ‘Diary’ of the Emin Pasha expedition was published in 1890. A portrait is prefixed.
Of slight build, great refinement of manners and cultured habits, Jameson was to all appearance scarcely robust enough for the rough work of his latest expedition. Yet his loyal determination at all risks to carry out Mr. Stanley's orders, and his unflinching endurance of hunger, toil, and illness, go far to counterbalance the incident which has marred his fame. His widow and two daughters survived him. ”

“ BRADBRIDGE or BRODEBRIDGE, WILLIAM (1501–1578) , bishop of Exeter, sprang from a Somersetshire family now extinct, but variously known as Bradbridge, Bredbridge, or Brodbridge. William Bradbridge was born in London in 1501. From the fact that he succeeded one Augustine Bradbridge as chancellor of Chichester, who was afterwards appointed treasurer and prebendary of Fordington, diocese of Sarum, in 1566, and who died the next year, it is possible the latter was a brother. ”

“ Latham is constantly referred to by ornithologists as the authority for the assigned names of species; but, as Professor Newton remarks, 'his defects as a compiler, which had been manifest before, rather increased with age, and the consequences were not happy.' The 'History' is, however, a marvellous achievement for a man at the age of 82. Latham helped to revise the second edition of Pennant's 'Indian Zoology' in 1793; 'the more laborious part, relative to the insects,' falling to Latham's share. ”

“ He was a good salmon-fisher, but, probably from want of leisure, was not equally skilled in fly-fishing for trout. With much zeal he applied himself to the many economical questions affecting the artificial supply of salmon, the length of the close season, the condition of the different salmon rivers of the kingdom, and similar investigations, gradually becoming the highest authority on the subjects of pisciculture. In 1867 he was appointed an inspector of salmon fisheries. ”

“ FITZGIBBON, EDWARD (1803–1857) , who wrote under the pseudonym 'Ephemera,' son of a land agent, was born at Limerick in 1803. He was devotedly attached to fishing from boyhood. When he was fourteen years old his father died, and he came to London. At sixteen he was articled to a surgeon in the city, but quitted the profession in disgust two years later, and became a classical tutor in various parts of England for three years, finding time everywhere to practise his favourite sport. ”

“ He was of fine stature, active in mind and body, quick with his pen, and never unemployed; cheerful, bright, sympathetic, and independent, his courage was extraordinary, and was well exhibited in the indomitable fortitude with which he bore the pains and necessary operations of the attempts to cure the cancer in his tongue. ”

“ The first edition of the 'Boke' is illustrated with coats of arms in black and red, but in the second edition, 1496, appear the quaint and celebrated woodcuts. These are three in number. The first consists of a group of men going hawking, while a hawk flies over them, and two dogs like Italian greyhounds run at their side. The costume of the sportsmen is as noticeable as the character of their dogs. In the second appears a 'bevy' or 'sege' of fowls (as the dame orders them to be called) , some of which are flying, others swimming, others again standing on the banks of a stream. ”

“ In 1778 he was made chaplain of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and became a notary public at Oxford in 1791, and registrar of the university in 1797. He married in 1775 Elizabeth Weller, by whom he had a large family, lived in Oxford, and was rector of St. Clement's in that city from 1795 to his death, 1 July 1831, at the age of eighty-five.
Seldom quitting home, and leaving behind him no correspondence, Gutch, besides being an active man of business in his generation, is best known to posterity by his books. ”

“ In the winter of 1868 Drake made a trip to Egypt and the Nile, and in the following spring proceeded to Sinai. Here he met the officers of the ordnance survey of the Sinai expedition, and as they were just returning home, visited for himself all the places of interest which they had discovered, together with those which lie in the ordinary route of Sinaitic travel. Returning to England for a few months in order to make his preparations, in the autumn of 1869 he returned to the East in company with Professor Palmer [q. v.] ”

“ KNOWLES, GILBERT (fl. 1723) , botanist and poet, born in 1674, is known only for his ‘Materia Medica Botanica’ (London, 1723, 4to) . This work is dedicated to Dr. Richard Mead [q. v.] , and consists of 7355 Latin hexameters. Four hundred plants of the materia medica are described and their uses in medicine explained. Various episodes, some of which may yet be read with pleasure, are interwoven with the subject for the sake of ornament. ”

“ Privately Lee was an energetic collector of natural history specimens, and was also a skilful worker with the microscope. He was a fellow of the Linnean, Geological, and Zoological Societies in London, and was popular in society. ”

“ In that year he went by way of Ceylon and Singapore to Borneo, where he was the first to discover the black pern, a kind of honey-buzzard, and he returned home with a fine collection of birds, butterflies, and beetles. Towards the end of 1878 he went out to South Africa in search of big game, and hunted for a few weeks on the skirts of the Kalahari desert. ”

“ Besides numerous papers on fish, birds, &c., in the ‘Field’ and ‘Land and Water,’ and an article on ‘Rats’ in the ‘Quarterly Review,’ Buckland in his capacity of inspector of salmon fisheries reported annually on the salmon fisheries, and published a book on ‘Fish Hatching’ in 1863. He also wrote reports on the Scotch salmon fisheries in 1871, on the Norfolk fisheries in 1875, on the crab and lobster fisheries in 1877, the Scotch herring fisheries in 1878, and the sea fisheries in 1879. ”

“ Many visitors, among others Liebig, came at various times to inspect the farm. His endeavour was always to discover how the greatest fertility in land could be secured together with the greatest economy in working expenses. His farm was always open for the inspection of students of the Agricultural College. He was much beloved on account of his benevolence at Cirencester, where he died 5 July 1881.
Lawrence married, 26 May 1818, Lydia, youngest daughter of Devereux Bowly of Chesterton House, Cirencester, by whom he had a son and three daughters. ”

“ One cabinet is said to have contained eleven thousand insects. Linnæus, Kirby, and Fabricius each held Drury in high estimation, and named insects after him. Together with Pallas, the younger Linnæus, and Haworth, they were wont to correspond with him. His ‘Exotic Entomology’ was in part translated into German, and annotated by G. W. F. Panzer, 1785.
Drury was a man of the highest honour, upright and religious, active both in mind and body, and devotedly attached to entomology. His works are: 1. ‘Illustrations of Natural History, exhibiting upwards of 240 figures of Exotic Insects,’ 3 vols. ”

“ ELLIS, WILLIAM (d. 1758) , was a writer on agriculture, of whom little save his books has survived. He is supposed to have been born about 1700, received an ordinary education, and began life as a plain farmer. For nearly fifty years he held a farm at Little Gaddesden, Hertfordshire, on which, however, he made no pretence to scientific agriculture. ”

“ CATCHPOLE, MARGARET (1773–1841) , adventuress, the youngest of six children, was born in 1773 at the Seven Hills, near the Orwell, in Suffolk. Her father was a labourer employed on the fields of a celebrated breeder of Suffolk cart-horses. The farmer's wife being suddenly seized with illness, Margaret, when thirteen years of age, mounted a Suffolk punch, and galloped with only a halter round its neck to Ipswich in order to fetch a doctor. After this she became a servant in the household of Mr. Cobbold of Ipswich, and saved one of his children from drowning. ”