an amusing and instructive book, but for a graceful and gracious act of the Queen, who, with the combined motive of benefiting the widow of a worthy man and an accomplished and useful naturalist, and, at the same time, of communicating to every British cultivator of science the results of his labours, purchased the MS., which has now been printed by her Majesty's command, and, to complete the act of royal munificence, copies have been liberally and extensively presented to naturalists personally, and to the public libraries of the nation, by H.R.H. the Prince Consort."

On these grounds the Athenæum says, and says truly, "this work stands single amongst the whole natural-history literature of our country."

The labours of the author have been appreciated and rewarded in an unusual way, but in a mode more likely to cause those at present indifferent to such matters to look with increased respect on the study of natural history, than probably would have been effected by any other manner of signifying the royal approbation.

There are many other parts of Scotland to which I would gladly have conveyed my readers, for even the wild scenery of the Caledonian Railway, and the bold coast scenery of the North

British, before it hurries the traveller into the country of the Lammermuir, where one passes over some tempting little woody-thickets in the valley, are well worthy of special attention. For my own part I certainly prefer the coast route to the Caledonian, but tourists generally will do wisely to go by one railway and return by the other.

But I have enlarged as much on the pleasures of scenery in Scotland as the allotted space for that subject will permit, and if any of the residents there find their eyes opened to the enjoyment of new pleasures by the perusal of these pages, I shall be amply repaid; and if any tourist, hesitating as to the direction in which he should make his summer's excursion, will try a pilgrimage to Scotland, he will not require to be advised to revisit it. It is astonishing how unwilling we often are to visit a new locality, and those especially who have never made a long excursion are often extremely loath to set out on their travels. Knowing the comforts of home, and fancying they cannot exist without them, they are unwilling to heave anchor and turn adrift on the sea of adventure; not knowing the pleasures and charms of travelling, they magnify the anticipated discomforts of a tour, just in the same way as we find people dreading to visit the

continent from some vague conception of miseries connected with passports, douanes and foreign cookery, all which they discover, when they do venture on the bold experiment of a European tour, to exist only in imagination.

That many who have not yet visited Scotland would vastly enjoy a fortnight there in June, is a matter that I can hardly allow to admit of dispute, and some there must be so happily situated as to be free to go, if they will but determine to do so. But those who set off on their travels will find that it will add vastly to their pleasures, if they set themselves some definite object, not merely travelling first here, then there, with a general desire of seeing every thing, but with a fixed determinate purpose, and whilst in pursuit of that making the best use of their observational faculties that they can.

And those who have hitherto little exercised their powers of observation must not be surprised that they do not speedily become developed: we must have patience; time and practice are necessary to acquire any new art or scienceand as there is no royal road to learning, neither is there any short cut to the art of seeing. Make a beginning, remembering that "Ce n'est que le premier pas qui coute;" and doubt not that each repeated attempt will be more successful than its

predecessor, till ultimately, by steady perseverance, the observational faculties will be found developed to a very considerable extent; and for the whole of the remainder of life, whether it be long or short, additional draughts of pleasure will be quaffed,-pleasure to which the unobservant had previously been strangers.

And that is the greatest difficulty we have to contend with, that those who have never tasted these pleasures know not what they lose by the want of them, and therefore it is that they can hardly be persuaded to make the slightest effort to obtain them.

JUNE AT THE LAKES.

We took up our quarters at the Salutation, at Ambleside, where, from the windows of our sitting-room, we gazed upon Loughrigg.

The next morning, proceeding some distance up the Patterdale Road, we digressed to the left, and, after clambering over a few stone walls, which bounded the sub-alpine meadows, we arrived at some heathy and boggy ground; and here we beheld, in all its glory, the bird's eye primrose (Primula farinosa). This, as many of my readers must know, is not an every-day sight, and it is one I have never seen since, but the scene is as fresh before me as though it were but yesterday-the boggy ground, with the powdery leaves of this primrose-the pale pink petals of its blossoms. From this elevated position, into which we were led in pursuit of insects, we have an extensive view of Lake Windermere ; it was a glorious day, a mild south-west wind, light clouds hastily crossing the sky overhead, their fleeting shadows giving an amount of animation to the landscape, which, indeed, seemed to vary each instant as we gazed.

There are few things more difficult to ex