Can it be that the
finding a new plant put us in a state of ecstasy? How we treasured up
specimens! How we gloried in our collections! But it has all passed
away; no chord is touched." To some, who think of the Dean as the
reverend, pious, grave, even melancholy man, these youthful
reminiscences may appear unnatural, even unworthy. I must own that there
breaks out now and then in his journal something which shows that he
himself was not satisfied with many of these juvenile memoranda, as if
they showed unfitting occupation and education of a young clergyman. But
that was not their real nature. Those small studies and accomplishments
took the place in his early training which the cricket-match or the
boat-race now take in the school time of Young England. The Dean speaks
somewhat contemptuously--"Here I got a smattering of astronomy," and
again of his studies of cryptogamics and botany; but he nevertheless
felt the full benefit of such accomplishments. His music, his passion
for rural and especially Highland scenery, the enjoyments of society,
the love of seeing others happy, the joining of happiness with goodness,
made the Dean what he was in after life, and enabled him to take that
position amongst his countrymen which a purely theological upbringing
would not have done.
But now our young cleric was to put away childish things, and to take
upon him the duty of his high calling.
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