hing more interesting in the
'Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties.' His life has been a gallant
endeavour to win further knowledge, though too much at the expense of a
constitution originally delicate. He pursues science with patience and
determination, and wooes truth with the ardour of a lover. Eulogy of
his character would here be unnecessary; but, if he takes due care of
his health, we shall hear more of him.[11]

More astronomers in humble life! There seems to to be no end of them.
There must be a great fascination in looking up to the heavens, and
seeing those wondrous worlds careering in the far-off infinite. Let me
look back to the names I have introduced in this chapter of
autobiography. First, there was my worthy porter friend at Coupar
Angus station, enjoying himself with his three-inch object-glass. Then
there was the shoemaker and teacher, and eventually the first-rate
maker of achromatic instruments. Look also at the persons whom he
supplied with his best telescopes. Among them we find princes,
baronets, clergymen, professors, doctors, solicitors, manufacturers,
and inventors. Then we come to the portrait painter, who acquired the
highest supremacy in the art of telescope making; then to Mr. Lassell,
the retired brewer, whose daughters presented his instrument to the
nation; and, lastly, to the extraordinary young schoolmaster of
Bainbridge, in Yorkshire. And now before I conclude this last chapter,
I have to relate perhaps the most extraordinary story of all--that of
another astronomer in humble life, in the person of a slate counter at
Port Penrhyn, Bangor, North Wales.

While at Birnam, I received a letter from my old friend the Rev.
Charles Wicksteed, formerly of Leeds, calling my attention to this
case, and inclosing an extract from the letter of a young lady, one of
his correspondents at Bangor. In that letter she said: "What you write
of Mr. Christmas Evans reminds me very much of a visit I paid a few
evenings ago to an old man in Upper Bangor. He works on the Quay, but
has a very decided taste for astronomy, his leisure time being spent in
its study, with a great part of his earnings. I went there with some
friends to see an immense telescope, which he has made almost entirely
without aid, preparing the glasses as far as possible himself, and
sending them away merely to have their concavity changed. He showed us
all his treasures with the greatest delight, explaining in English,