JOHN HILL 



of lectures illustrated by the exhibits, for the spoken word is 

 more abiding than the printed label. 



The methods of criticism pursued by Hill in the Inspector 

 soon involved him in controversy with various people. It is 

 a difficult matter to appraise him in these respects ; possibly his 

 success had turned his head for, according to Baker 1 , he shewed 

 " an unbounded store of vanity and self-sufficiency, which had 

 for years lain dormant behind the mask of their direct opposite 

 qualities of humility and diffidence ; a pride which was perpetually 

 laying claim to homage by no means his due, and a vindictive- 

 ness which never could forgive the refusal of it to him." Baker 

 then goes on to remark that as a consequence of this, every 

 affront however slight was revenged by Hill by a public attack 

 on the morals etc. of the maker. 



On the other hand his criticisms may have been honest, at 

 any rate in part ; and the fact that they landed him into difficulties 

 does not necessarily indicate that he was a dishonest fellow ; 

 most people are impatient of adverse criticism, and in those days 

 such impatience found a vent in a pamphlet war or in personal 

 violence. Nowadays the aggrieved manager, for instance, can 

 shut his theatre doors against the distasteful critic ; or, in other 

 cases, an action for libel appears to be not altogether unfashion- 

 able. 



His attack on the Royal Society. 



The real origin of Hill's attack on this learned society is 

 somewhat obscure. 



At the time of his death Chambers was engaged in the 

 preparation of a supplement to his Cyclopaedia. The publishers 

 then commissioned John Lewis Scott to prepare the work, but 

 as Scott was soon afterwards appointed tutor to the royal princes 

 it was entrusted to Hill. It is stated that the botanical articles 

 were quite good, but that the more general parts were done with 

 Hill's "characteristic carelessness and self-sufficiency." When 

 the work was approaching completion the publishers considered 

 that the title-page would look better if Hill had the right of 



1 Biographica Dramatica, 1812. 



