To Oxford men who were up in the 'nineties, Claridge
Druce was the benevolent chemist who advised them on the minor maladies of undergraduates ; few of them realised that he was even then one of the best of field botanists. He was the Hugh Miller of our day, for he made himself master of a science while busy With his trade ; but, wiser than Hugh Miller, he never deserted science for public life, though I have not forgotten that he was Mayor of Oxford and an ardent Liberal. He has written classics on the flora not only of the Southern Midlands, but of remote parts of the Highlands. To the end of his life he would undertake lengthy ex- peditions, and was as likely to be met with on a stack in the Shetlands or on a lonely Hebridean isle as among the Thames Valley pastures. He retained the keenness of a boy, and his learning was always at the disposal of an immense circle of friends. His fame went far abroad, and it used to be the habit of mischievous undergraduates to speak to their tutors of Mr. Druce as " the only Oxford man with an international reputation." Few men have led a happier life, for, as to a great lawyer, each day brought a delightful effortless addition to his knowledge.
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