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surviving friends. Several of these are to be found in a volume of "Hymns for Public Worship, selected for the Use of the Congregation assembling at the Octagon Chapel, Norwich" (1826).

On Wednesday, the 19th March 1828, at the meeting of the Linnæan Society, the intelligence of Sir James Smith's decease was communicated; when the members, as a tribute of respect to their friend and President, immediately retired. At the next meeting of the Society, which took place on the 1st of April 1828, Lord Stanley in the chair, his Lordship opened the proceedings by adverting, with much feeling, to the great loss which had been sustained by the country and the world, and more especially by the Society, in the death of its illustrious and beloved President, Sir James Edward Smith, who from its first establishment, in which he had taken an active part, had been called upon to preside over it by the annual and unanimous votes of its members, and had greatly contributed to place the Society in the distinguished rank which it had attained, by his great talents, indefatigable industry, sound judgment, and enlarged views as a naturalist; by the high estimation in which he had long been held by men of science all over the world; by the excellence of those valuable and accurate works in which he had done so much to promote and improve the study of natural history; and especially by the qualities of his heart, mind, and temper, for which his memory would long be revered by those who had enjoyed the happiness of his friendship. His Lordship could not for bear expressing what he felt on the occasion, especially with reference to the particular moment of his loss, at a time when those considerations of religious distinction were about to be removed, which had seemed to have a tendency to deprive those who, like this excellent and distinguished man, differed from the established

religion, of the rank in society due to their talents or their worth *.

His Lordship expressed his anxiety that whatever choice might be made by the Society to fill the vacancy in its Chair, should be such as would contribute to its prosperity, however impossible it might be adequately to supply the loss which it had now so much to regret +.

Lord Stanley, then adverting to the last volume of the English Flora, which had been received from Sir James Smith but a few days before his death, and was among the presents on the table, related that, showing it to a friend, Sir James had exclaimed, "This is the close of my labours.”—As its distinguished author was now removed from the possibility of receiving the customary vote of thanks, his Lordship concluded by proposing that the grateful feelings of the Society might be expressed to Lady Smith for this last gift of their revered President. A marble bust of Sir James, executed by Mr. Chantrey, was placed in the meeting-room of the Society previously to the next meeting.

The following is a list of Sir J. E. Smith's papers in the Transactions of the Linnæan Society:

On the Rise and Progress of Natural History, vol. I. p. 1. ---Descriptions of two kinds of Lichen, collected in the South of Europe, p. 81.-On the Festuca spadicea and Anthoxanthum paniculatum of Linnæus, p. 111. Remarks on the Genus Veronica, p. 189. — Remarks on the Abbé Wulfen's Descriptions of Lichens, (1789,) vol. II. p. 10. — Additional observations on the Festuca spadicea and Anthoxanthum Paniculatum, (1792,) p. 101. Remarks on the Centaurea solstitialis and Centaurea Melitensis, p. 236. — Remarks on the Genus Dianthus, (1793,) p. 292. · The Botanical History of Mentha exigua, (1794,) vol. III. p. 18.-Botanical Characters of some Plants of the Natural Order of Myrti, (1796,) p. 255. -Characters of a New Genus of Plants named Salisburia, p. 330.

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Alluding to the proceedings in Parliament for the abolition of the sacramental test.

At the next Anniversary meeting of the Society the choice of the Society for the Presidency fell on his Lordship.,

There is a beautiful etching by Mr. Dawson Turner, from a bust by Bullock, 1810.

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Remarks on some Foreign Species of Orobanche, (1797,)
vol. IV. p. 164.-The Characters of Twenty New Genera of
Plants, (1798,) p. 213.-Observation son the British Species of
Bromus; with Introductory Remarks on the Composition of a
Flora Britannica, p. 276.-Description of Sowerbæa Juncea, a
Plant of New South Wales, (1799,) vol. V. p. 159.-On the
British Species of Mentha, p. 171.-Of five New British Species
of Carex, p. 264. On the Genera of Pæderota, Wulfema, and
Hemmeris, (1800,) vol. VI. p. 95.-On some British Species of
Salix, (1801,) p. 100. - - Botanical Characters of four New Hol-
land Plants of the Natural Order of Myrti, p. 279.—Of the
Fruit of Cycas revoluta, p. 312.-Of the Grass called by Lin-
næus Cornucopia Alopecuroides, (1803,) vol. VII. p. 245.- On
the Generic Characters of Mosses, and particularly of the Genus
Maimm, p. 254.-Biographical Memoirs of several Norwich
Botanists, (1804,) p. 295.-Account of the Bromus Triflorus of
Linnæus, p. 276.—Three New Species of Boxonia, p. 282.—A
Botanical Sketch of the Genus Conclium, (1806,) vol. IX. p. 117.
-Inquiry into the Genus of the Tree called by Pona, Abelicæa
Cretica, p. 126.—An Inquiry into the real Daucus Gingidium of
Linnæus, p. 131.. Inquiry into the Structure of Seeds, (1807,
p. 204.-Respecting several British Species of Hieracium, (1808,)
p. 225.-Specific Characters of the Decandrous Papilionaceous
Plants of New Holland, p. 244.—Of the Hookeria, a New Genus
of Mosses, with Descriptions of ten Species, p. 272.-Characters
of Platylobium, Bossiæa, and of a new Genus named Pirretia,
p. 301.-Of a new Liliaceous Genus called Brodiæa, vol. X.
p. 1.-Remarks on the Sedium Ochroleucum, p. 6.—On the Syn-
onyms and Natural Country of Hypericum calycinum, (1809,)
p. 266.—Of a new Genus of New Holland Plants named Bru-
nonia, (1810,) p. 365.-Description of Duchesnea fragiformis,
p. 371.—On the Iris Susiana of Linnæus: and on the Natural
Order of Aquilaria, (1812,) vol. IX. p. 227. - On the Genus
Teesdalia, (1814,) p. 283.-Remarks on the Bryum Marginatum
and Bryum lineare of Dickson, p. 290. Some information
respecting the Lignum Rhodium of Pococke's Travels, (1815,)
vol. XII. p. 1.-A Botanical History of the Genus Tofieldia,
(1817) p. 255.-Characters of two Species of Tordycinum,
p. 345.-An Account of Rhizomorpha Medullaris, a New British
Fungus, p. 372.-Remarks on the Hypnum recognitum, and on
several new species of Roscoea, (1820,) vol. XIII. p. 459.

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Extracts from a letter of Professor Schultes, of Landshut in-
Bohemia, to the celebrated Naturalist Count Sternberg; de
scribing a visit to Sir J. E. Smith in 1824 *.

"On the 27th of August, about noon, we proceeded in the
mail coach from Ipswich to Norwich, where, by a fortunate cir-
* First published in the Botanische Zeitung for 1825.

cumstance, we accomplished the object of our journey thither. Sir James E. Smith, to whom we made this pilgrimage, had just returned home from the country, and was on the point of again visiting his friends when we called on him at his beautiful house. Our joy was great at finding this most respectable man so far recovered from the severe illness which had threatened his life, as to be again enabled to devote his leisure hours to the amabilis scientia. He was then employed in revising some printed sheets of the third edition of his Introduction to the Study of Botany. Sir J. E. Smith displayed to us the treasures of his collection, (in reality the only one of its kind,) with a courtesy and kindness which are peculiar to great and well-educated men; and which in this truly noble person are heightened by such charms of gentleness and affability, as cannot fail to attract to him most forcibly even such individuals as have but once enjoyed the privilege of his society. The books of Linnæus, with their margins full of notes in the handwriting of the immortal Swede; many valuable MSS. of his, not yet published; the Linnæan Herbarium, in the same order and even occupying the very cases which had contained it at Upsal, (little as the old-fashioned form of these cabinets corresponds with the elegant arrangement of Smith's museum); the collection of insects, shells, and minerals, which had belonged to this second creator of Nature ;—all these are arranged and preserved by Sir James with a scrupulous care which almost borders on a kind of religious veneration. The relics of Mohammed are not enshrined with more devotion in the Kaaba at Mecca, than are the collections of Linnæus in the house of Sir J. E. Smith at Norwich.

"Besides the Linnæan herbarium, Sir J. E. Smith has a large collection of plants of his own formation, which is especially rich in the productions of New Holland and Nepaul. The worthy Professor Wallich at Calcutta, whose health has lately suffered from an Indian climate, has greatly contributed towards the latter. The Linnæan specimens, as well as Sir James's private herbarium, are very well preserved; and after the old plan, which is now seldom followed on the continent, they are fastened down on a folio sheet of paper, and washed over with a solution of corrosive sublimate. Sir James has also under his care the plants of Sibthorpe, to aid him in the publication of his Flora Græca, which is now nearly completed.

Among the papers of Linnæus, their present possessor found a number of copies of two pamphlets by this illustrious inan, which do not appear to have been ever published. One of them bears the title of C. Linnæi Observationes in Regnum Lapidum,' and contains a view of the mineral kingdom, so far as it was known at the time of its being printed; the other is intituled, 'Orbis eruditi Judicium de Caroli Linnæi, M. D. Scriptis. Both fill a complete sheet of letter-press. Sir James was so kind as to give a copy of each to my son and myself,

LETTERS OF SIR J. E. SMITH, M. D. PR. L. S. 849

with his own signature affixed. The latter of these pamphlets, sine loco et anno, like the first, appears to be a defence of this illustrious man extorted from him by some of his envious and prejudiced contemporaries. But what redounds as much to the honour as it must have done to the peace of the cautious and amiable Linnæus, is, that after having composed this paper, which consists entirely of the testimony which was borne to his character by the principal naturalists of his time,-such as Boerhaave, Burmann, Sloane, Dillenius, Jussieu, Haller, Gesner, Gleditsch, Breynius, &c. &c. - he afterwards entirely suppressed it; and thereby deprived his opponents of those fresh subjects of disputation, which are sure to arise on such occasions, and which only furnish ground for sincere pity for the contending parties. It would appear as if the motto which Linnæus had chosen for this paper,

'Famam extollere factis
Hoc virtutis opus,'

had animated him with this feeling even while composing it. "The few hours which Sir James Smith's kindness induced him to devote to me, though he was ready prepared to set off on a journey to join his Smithia, (a lady of rare talents,) passed away like a moment of time; just as the sweetest periods of life seem to fleet upon the swiftest wings. I have rarely beheld a more noble countenance; one indicative of such candour, simplicity, and kindness, united with so much clearness of intellect, as that of Sir J. E. Smith; and the expression of his features will never be obliterated from my memory."

1. SIR J. E. SMITH to Mr. NICHOLS.

"SIR, Norwich, Jan. 22, 1819. "Having been reading, with infinite pleasure and information, your first volume of "Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century," as well as the various publications of your venerable friend Mr. Hutton, I feel so little a stranger to your character, though entirely so to your person, that I am encouraged to take the liberty of addressing you upon a subject I have long had in my mind.

"When I became the proprietor, by a fortunate purchase, of the Library and Museum of the great Linnæus in 1784, I acquired also his original correspondence - amounting perhaps to 500 letters. I have often wished to communicate what was proper of this store of information and amusement to the public, but could never hit on an eligible way of doing this. I therefore frankly confess that my motive for troubling you with this letter is to ask your advice and assistance in a matter which I trust you cannot but approve.

The letters of his English correspondents (mostly in Eng

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