Page:Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Vol 7.djvu/297

 scientific, the study of antiquities, for which the locality afforded great opportunities, and, most of all, the pursuit of his earliest and latest love, the observation and investigation of insect life. He had been a collector of insects from his early boyhood, but it was during the two years of comparative leisure following the close of his apprenticeship (from about July 1824 to November 1826), that his entomological studies assumed consistency and form.

The Canterbury Philosophical and Literary Institution afforded means of instruction of which George Newport, at this time, took full advantage, having joined it as a member in 1825. Its library, its collections, both in natural history and antiquities, and its lectures, were to him the source of endless recreation and instruction,— advantages, which he was soon able to repay, in kind, by contributions both to its museum and theatre. In September 1825 he began an elementary course of lectures on mechanics, and gave other lectures on the same subject, at intervals, both during this and the subsequent session of 1826; and in October of the latter year he was appointed General Exhibitor of the Museum, with a small salary. During this and the following year he gave some general lectures on entomology, as well as numerous demonstrations on the same subject, from his own collections and the specimens in the museum; and his name stands on the books of the Society as a large donor of British insects collected and preserved by himself.

Mr. Newport gave much satisfaction in his management of the museum, and made numerous friends among its chief visitors, the young men of the city, several of whom, subsequently, gave a striking proof how highly they estimated his character and services. Among the members, and one of the occasional Honorary Lecturers of the Society during the time of Mr. Newport's curatorship, was a Surgeon then residing at Sandwich. The intimacy arising from position and from pursuits of a kindred character, led to a connexion which ended in Mr. Newport's leaving Canterbury and going to reside at Sandwich; Mr. Weekes agreeing to receive him as his apprentice without the payment of any premium, but also without any remuneration for services, even in the form of board and lodging. All that he had of present or prospective means to meet the exigencies of such a position, consisted of a small sum in hand set apart from his own scanty earnings, and the generous offer of such VOL. VII. 2 E