Devonport, in which places he was chiefly quartered,
was hateful to him ; and as leave of absence could be
often obtained, he availed himself of every opportunity
thereby afforded of visiting the wilder parts, and especially
the coasts, of England, Wales, and Ireland. To
his regret circumstances hindered him from accompanying
his regiment to the Mediterranean, whither it
was sent in 1855, and toward the end of that year he
gave up his commission.
In Eebruary 1856 I first met Mr. P owys, to the
equal gratification, I think I may say, of each of us, as
well as of our friend Mr. Newcome, then living at
Hockwold Hall, where we were guests together; and
in the summer of that year Mr. P owys was able to put
into execution the idea he had long cherished of an
extended yacht-voyage to Southern Europe. Embarking
with a friend * on the ‘ Claymore,’ they touched at
various ports on the coast of Spain, making some stay
in the Balearic Islands, and visited Corsica and Sardinia.
He wrote to me in October of that year from Cagliari,
giving a long list of the birds he had seen alive or dead
during the cruise. They thence sailed for Sicily, but
encountering a violent gale of wind, in which the yacht
received some damage, they had to put into Malta for
repairs. As the execution of these needed some time,
Mr. Powys betook himself to Tunis, where he passed
two months, enchanted with the zoological wealth of
the country and enjoying very fair sport. Thence he
* The Honourable Hercules Rowley.
proceeded to the Ionian Islands, reaching Corfu on
Christmas Hay 1856, and there he stayed “ off and on”
until July 1858, making frequent excursions for sport
or natural history to the opposite coast of Epirus or
iEtolia, going even so far to the northward as Montenegro.
The results of this prolonged residence in those
parts were communicated by him to ‘ The Ibis ’ for
1860—the establishment of which journal he cordially
approved, joining the British Ornithologists’ Union so
soon as he heard of its intended formation—and while
they shew with what earnestness he entered into his
pursuits, undeterred by bad weather, fatigue, or sickness,
the same series of papers reveals in many a passage that
delicate and admirable humour which so markedly
distinguished him.
Leaving the Ionian Islands he proceeded to the
Sardinian dominions, being very desirous of shooting
an Ibex; but herein his hopes were mortified, for on
reaching Savoy he found that but a short time before
the chase of that animal had been forbidden to all but
the King (Victor Emmanuel), and leave even to look at
one was not to be obtained. He consequently had to
content himself with Chamois, whose acquaintance he
had already made in Thessaly, and subsequently with
the Moufflon in Sardinia. However he was not meanwhile
without compensation; for, by the beginning of
1859, he had become engaged to marry Emma Elizabeth,
the very beautiful daughter of Mr. Robert William
Brandling, of Low Gosforth in Northumberland, to