is
fat acres, his thumping balance at the bank, his cellar of crusted wine,
and his horse that never refused a gate, this world seemed to him a
nether paradise. He required, he said, only one more boon to make his
happiness complete--namely, a grandson with unmistakably red hair.
A shrewd man of business, Mr. Baker tied up every farthing of his
daughter's fortune, L30,000; and this was well, for Burton's father, a
rather Quixotic gentleman, had but a child's notion of the use of
money. The Burtons resided at Torquay, and Colonel Burton busied himself
chiefly in making chemical experiments, of which he was remarkably fond;
but the other members of the household, who generally went about
holding their noses, appear not to have sympathised with his studies
and researches. He was very superstitious--nothing, for instance, could
induce him to reveal his birthday; and he fretted continually because he
was not permitted to invest his wife's money and make a second fortune;
which no doubt he would very soon have done--for somebody else.

Richard Francis Burton was born at Torquay [29] on 19th March 1821; and
to the intemperate joy of the family his hair was a fierce and fiery
red. The news flew madly to Elstree. Old Mr. Baker could scarcely
contain himself, and vowed then and there to leave the whole of his
fortune to his considerate grandson. The baby, of course, was promptly
called Richard after Mr. Baker, with Francis as an afterthought; and
a little later the Burtons went to reside at Barham House with the
grandparents. Richard was baptised in the parish church at Elstree,
2nd September 1821. In the entry his father's abode is called "Bareham
Wood," [30] the name being spelt various ways. Our illustration of the
old church is taken from an engraving made to commemorate the burial
of William Weare [31] murdered by the notorious John Thurtell; an event
that occurred in 1823, when Burton was two years old.

There was another link between the Burtons and the Bakers, for Joseph
Netterville's youngest brother, Francis, military surgeon in the 99th
regiment, married Sarah Baker, Mr. Richard Baker's eldest daughter. Dr.
Burton [32] who was in St. Helena at the time of Napoleon's death lives
in history as the man who "took a bust of the dead emperor." [33]

2. Tours and Elstree.

Being subject to asthma, Colonel Burton now left England and hired a
chateau called Beausejour situated on an eminence near Tours, where
there