English: Identifier: lifelettersofge00roma

Title: The life and letters of George John Romanes Year: 1898 (1890s) Authors: Romanes, George John, 1848-1894 Romanes, Ethel Duncan Subjects: Romanes, George John, 1848-1894 Naturalists Publisher: London, Longmans, Green Contributing Library: Smithsonian Institution Libraries Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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Text Appearing Before Image: ut this jelly-fish is that it will onlylive in a temperature of 90°, so I shall have to workat it in the Yictoria House, which is kept at a tempera-ture of 100°, and makes one sweat. But I shall notwork long at a time. From 1882 to 1890 Mr. Eomanes rented Geames,a beautiful place overlooking the Moray Firth. Itbelongs to a cousin of the Eomanes family, CaptainMurray, of the 81st Eegiment. Captain Murraysmother and sisters lived not far away, and theMurrays and Eomanes formed a little coterie in thatnot very populous neighbourhood. He continued to be an ardent sportsman, andprobably his happiest days were those he spenttramping over moors or plodding through turnips inthose October days of perfect beauty, which seemespecially peculiar to Scotland. The surroundings of Geanies, without beingromantically beautiful, have a charm of their own.There is a certain melancholy and loneliness aboutthe inland landscape round Geanies which appealedstrongly to him. It is a place abounding in every

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HH *>1 H <^ a ^ 1890 GEANIES 153 kind of sea-bird, and it is almost impossible to de-scribe the weird, uncanny effect which the longendless twilight of the summer, the silence brokenby hootings of owls, by the scream of a sea-gull, pro-duce on one. It is an old rambling house with long passagesand mysterious staircases, and, as the children found,endless conveniences for playing at hide-and-seek.The library is a most lovely room, lined with book-cases, and leading into an old-fashioned garden, fullof sweet-smelling flowers. It is impossible to imagine a more ideal abode fora poet, a naturalist, a botanist, a sportsman, thanthis, his summer home ; and as Mr. Romanes was,to some extent, all four, Geanies was a place ofexceeding happiness to him. Two of his sonnets are dedicated to his dogs, c Tomy Setters, and To Countess, and the followingletter will show him as a sportsman. To Mrs. Romanes. Achalibster,1 Caithness: August 14, 1883.

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