1 14 The Scottish Naturalist. 



ously about it. He grew, however, gradually worse, and had to 

 take to bed. His illness assumed the form of a suppurating 

 throat, and, after suffering excruciating agony for six weeks, he 

 died on the 14th of January 1814. 



His funeral, according to the testimony of some still living 

 that were present, was one of the largest that, up to that time, 

 had been seen in Forfar. The whole town turned out to wit- 

 ness it, and followed the coffin to the grave in the churchyard. 

 Many of his friends and acquaintances from the country were 

 also present. 



To the great body of the people in the town George Don 

 was simply " the botanist." If they had been asked more 

 closely as to what kind of man he was, they would probably 

 have described him in some such way as the Kirkcaldy man 

 described Adam Smith : " A puir cratur ! gangs stotting about 

 on the sands there for hours, and naebody kens what's in his 

 head." One day coming down North Street with one of his 

 men, on his way to the country, he came to a number of weavers 

 lounging on the street. They thought they would puzzle him, 

 and called his attention to a young plant at the wall side, hardly 

 two inches above the ground. He knelt down and examined 

 the leaf with his lens, and told them it was a gooseberry-bush. 

 They were sceptical, but lifted the plant carefully, put it in 

 a garden, and watched its growth until they were convinced he 

 was right. This was thought a very wonderful feat. They had 

 a very dim consciousness of his genius. He never mixed much 

 with them, and therefore they did not know him intimately. 

 About burgh politics, with their concomitant filth of jobbery 

 and sacrifice of the public good for petty personal ends, I fancy 

 he cared but little. He was the companion of men who were 

 drawn together by similarity of opinions, political and religious, 

 — who were sympathising with the French Revolution, and be- 

 ginning to despair of religion as taught by Tory preachers from 

 Scottish pulpits. Clear-headed and intelligent, they were not 

 likely to be imposed on, and their testimony to his qualities 

 of head and heart are complete and emphatic. If the esteem 

 in which a man is held by his most intimate friends be the best 

 test of his character, the letters of Messrs Roberts and Booth 

 that follow, amply testify to the admiration and affection with 

 which they regarded him. 



The Mr Rodger mentioned in the letter was a well-known 

 lawyer in Forfar. 



