children, an amateur concert or a review article in the evening;
plenty of hard work by day; regular visits to meetings of the
British Association, from one of which I find him
characteristically writing: 'I cannot say that I have had any
amusement yet, but I am enjoying the dulness and dry bustle of the
whole thing'; occasional visits abroad on business, when he would
find the time to glean (as I have said) gardening hints for
himself, and old folk-songs or new fashions of dress for his wife;
and the continual study and care of his children: these were the
chief elements of his life. Nor were friends wanting. Captain and
Mrs. Jenkin, Mr. and Mrs. Austin, Clerk Maxwell, Miss Bell of
Manchester, and others came to them on visits. Mr. Hertslet of the
Foreign Office, his wife and his daughter, were neighbours and
proved kind friends; in 1867 the Howitts came to Claygate and
sought the society of 'the two bright, clever young people'; and in
a house close by, Mr. Frederick Ricketts came to live with his
family. Mr. Ricketts was a valued friend during his short life;
and when he was lost with every circumstance of heroism in the LA
PLATA, Fleeming mourned him sincerely.

I think I shall give the best idea of Fleeming in this time of his
early married life, by a few sustained extracts from his letters to
his wife, while she was absent on a visit in 1864.

'NOV. 11. - Sunday was too wet to walk to Isleworth, for which I
was sorry, so I staid and went to Church and thought of you at
Ardwick all through the Commandments, and heard Dr. - expound in a
remarkable way a prophecy of St. Paul's about Roman Catholics,
which MUTATIS MUTANDIS would do very well for Protestants in some
parts. Then I made a little nursery of Borecole and Enfield market