'to Mr. Arthur Aikin. 251 



fchcse dissections have met with the full encouragement 

 aof professors Martyn, Rutherford, and Dr. Smith — in short, 

 with the approbation of all who arc conversant with art and 

 -science. The rest of my botanical plates are, I believe, su- 

 perior to those of any former work. Am 1 accused of 

 f 4 vanity" because these have met with universal approba- 

 tion? I acknowledge the crime; and as St. Paul boasted what 

 he had undergone for the cause of religion, so I feel an ex- 

 ultation in what I have attempted for the cause of botany. 

 I am proud that, when Dr. Smith quitted the chair at 

 •Guy's Hospital, he kindly said, 44 that so handsomely 

 elected to this station, he would not have quitted the du- 

 ties of it unless he had found one fully adequate to fulfill 

 them." I am proud when such a man as the Rev. Mr. 

 Martyn, the professor of botany at Cambridge, equally in- 

 capable of false flattery, writes to me, that (i all my bota- 

 nical works are admirably adapted *to improve our favourite 

 science, and meet with his approbation." J am proud when 

 Dr. Rutherford, the professor of botany at Edinburgh, also 

 writes to me, " anxiously do I wish that yeu shall meet with 

 suitable encouragement, and enjoy health and leisure to en- 

 able you to finish your noble undertaking." I am proud 

 of the testimonies of men of sterling merit, (C Laudari bo- 

 nis viris est vera laus ;" nor do I refuse the pleasure that 

 even anv part of my works, for the plates constitute some 

 part, are capable of extorting from your reviewer more than 

 iaint praise. My father, BonneH Thornton, was the first who 

 persuaded Churchill to write; and unless I had brought for- 

 ward these choice representations of select flowers, the lyres 

 of several of our first English poets on subjects of botany 

 might have remained unstrung: and as a Laura produced the 

 sonnets of a Petrarch, so my work has drawn forth the most 

 ■charming effusions- on the sweetest flowers from heaven-born 

 poets; sounds which, if they cannot touch the strings of your 

 reviewer's heart, might even rejoice his " dancing cows/' I 

 am proud that such a man as Dr. Thomson, speaking publicly 

 of my medical -work, should say, " Thus hav-cwe ,given a 

 brief analysis of the Philosophy of Medicine, or Medical 

 Extracts, winch will be found of the highest -use to. all those 

 who .are desirous of preserving or regaining the invaluable 

 blessing of health, it is the lest work on the subject in am/ 

 language: it is the production of a mind, learned, compre- 

 hensive, candid, open to, and desirous of, information; cau- 

 tious in investigation, yet resolute to embrace the truth; a 

 friend to mankind, ardent in his hopes, as in his efforts, for 

 increasing the stores of knowledge; and particularly into- 



S 4 rested 



