CHAPTER I
EARLY LIFE: ETON AND THE SCOTS GUARDS
I suppose few men in looking back to the events of their life can fail to recall many happy days, and those who have been blessed as I have with good health, good friends, a good wife, and a fair fortune must be singu- larly unfortunate, unenterpiising or unwise if they cannot recall some days whose memories may give pleasure, or be of use to others as well as themselves; but I do not think anyone who is not bom as I was with a love of nature can fully realize the amount of pleasure which falls to the lot of a naturalist.
Though I have taken a fair share of interest in agriculture and sport, and in the duties, pleasures and occupations of a country gentleman, it is from nature that I have certainly dexived the greatest enjoyment, and to nature I always turn for an unfailing and inexhaustible pleasure which I believe can be afforded by no other pursuit to the same extent.
Whether these reminiscences contain anything which will make them of permanent interest is a question which 1 must leave to others to decide. I only know that similar ones have given me the greatest pleasure to read, and I have often regretted that so many persons allow their experiences to perish with them, as they often do because they are too diffident or too idle to write them. However little a man knows, he always knows some¬ thing which may be useful to others if truly and accurately told; and though I have never kept a diary I hope that the accuracy of observation which the study of natural history teaches may keep me from any recol¬ lections which are not strictly correct. As, however, an old man's memory is often misleading, and people are apt to put off too long the record of their experiences, I have determined to wait no longer, and hope that these rough notes will be received as a truthful account of events which may have some intei*est to others.
I was born on May 16th, 1846, the eldest son of John Henry Elwes and his wife Mary, daughter of Admiral Sir Robert Bromley of Stoke Hall, Newark. My earliest recollection is of moving to the Old House at Colesborne, halfway between Cirencester and Cheltenham in, the Cotswold Hills, after my grandfather's death in 1851. My grandfather used to live here about half the year and the other half at Congham, Norfolk. As the old house was too small it was pulled down in 1852 and a large new house built close by. In those days building was cheap, and the architect as usual designed a much larger house than was intended or is now wanted, and my father spent a great deal of money in various ways on the estate, as most country gentlemen were inclined to do in those days of agricultural prosperity and low wages. Whilst the new house was being built, my father bought a schooner yacht, the Fairy, in which he made a long cruise to the Mediterranean, taking his eldest children with him; but the only thing I can recollect was the yacht dragging her anchors during a gale in the harbour of Corfu and being driven against the mole, where she
was considerably damaged. I have lived ever since in Gloucestershire,
13
