LTNNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. XVll 



Any attempt on my part to do justice to this subject would be 

 wholly futile, in anticipation of the memorial which you will pre- 

 sently hear from our esteemed Secretary, whose facile pen displays 

 even more than its wonted eloquence when employed on the cha- 

 racter of those whom he has loved and respected ; but there are 

 one or two circumstances, to a knowledge of which I have had 

 incidental access, either connected with the career of Mr. Brown, 

 or in which I have been personally concerned, which I will beg 

 your permission to mention. 



When a great man has departed from amongst us, and we are 

 enabled to take, as it were, a bird's-eye view of his whole career, 

 and contemplate all that he has achieved in the sphere of action, 

 whatever that may be, in which he had distinguished himself, — 

 when, especially, there has been some one line of discovery in which 

 he has stood out from the ranks of his fellows, and with which hia 

 name has become identified, — it is interesting to look back into 

 the distance and discern the one event, in itself probably trivial, 

 which formed the starting-point of his journey, and had given a 

 colour and a character to the subsequent history of his life and fame. 



A simple letter which now lies before me constituted such a 

 turning-point in the life and prospects of him whom we all de- 

 plore, and who gave a tone and impress to the science which he 

 pursued with such untiring zeal, with such bright and clear intel- 

 ligence, and with such enduring results. In a letter from Correa 

 da Serra, who was at that time a frequent visitor to the library of 

 Sir Joseph Banks, addressed to that distinguished patron of science, 

 the future Princeps Botanicorum is recommended to conduct the 

 Botanical investigations belonging to the proposed voyage of dis- 

 covery to New South "Wales, then about to be undertaken under 

 the command of Plinders, and which was destined to lay the foun- 

 dation of a future fame coextensive with the regions in which hia 

 transcendent labours could be appreciated. This remarkable letter 

 forms an item in the important mass of materials now consigned 

 to my temporary keeping, which I trust may hereafter form the 

 basis of a life of the distinguished President of the Boyal Society, 

 to whom I have just referred. It will be readily imagined that, 

 in the load of correspondence of which the greater part of these 

 documents consists, some records might be found which would 

 illustrate the intimate relation in which these two celebrated men 

 stood to each other, and the influence which the talents and 

 judgment and knowledge of Hobert Brown must have exercised 

 upon his respected patron and friend. An indirect indication of 



LINN. PKOC. h. 



