506 Biograj^hy : — Jo/m Templetony Esq. 



but also for a number of cryptogamic plants, which he communicated to 

 such friends as were engaged in botanical pursuits. His application for 

 the premium for his rose, opened a correspondence with General Vallancey, 

 one of the vice-presidents, and for many years the most active manager of 

 the Dublin Society. In the published letter, after the description of the 

 rose, there are some remarks on specimens of wood he had sent to the 

 General, particularly the locust tree of North America, and the chestnut. 

 In other letters he gave the General accounts of antiquities in the north, 

 especially of the Giant's Ring, which he measured for him. Of Gen. Vallancey 

 Mr. Templeton appears to have had a high opinion ; and the intercourse I 

 had with the General during many years, and the kind attention I expe- 

 rienced from him, whilst acting for the Cork Institution, enable me to say 

 that this opinion was well founded. Those who only knew the General as 

 an antiquary, were apt to ridicule what they regarded as extravagant in his 

 opinions ; but whatever errors any may suppose him to have fallen into on 

 this subject, he was a well-informed and amiable man, anxious to promote 

 the advancement of knowledge, and politely attentive, at the Society, to 

 every person engaged in the pursuit of it. 



In 1 804, Dawson Turner, Esq., of Yarmouth, published MtLscologice Hib^r- 

 nicee Spicilegiwn, in which he acknowledges his obligations to Mr. Temple- 

 ton, in conjunction with Drs. Scott and Stokes. Of the former, Mr. Turner 

 says that he has investigated the north of Ireland with indefatigable labour 

 (labore improbo inclagavit), characterising it as a country mountainous and 

 rich in the productions of nature. He also intimated, that from Mr. Temple- 

 ton a Flora Hibernica was to be expected. In the same year, Dr.Wade pub- 

 lished his PldntcB raribres in Hib&nia inv^ntce; and in the preface, speaking of 

 a Flora Hibernica, observes : " I am well aware that there are some genu- 

 ine and valuable materials for such a Flora in the hands of a gentleman in 

 the northern part of this kingdom, — a person every way qualified from indus- 

 try, information, and acuteness, for such an undertaking ; and it is much to 

 be lamented he does not gratify the botanical world with the result of his 

 researches." This work he sent to Mr. Templeton, as a mark of " respect 

 for his botanical abilities and private worth." I do not find, however, that 

 an intimacy ever took place between these gentlemen, though nothing is 

 so apt to lead to friendly intercourse as a real attachment to the same pur- 

 suits. Several botanists, about this time, urged Mr. Templeton to prose- 

 cute the work alluded to ; and from a letter to Mr. Brown, before men- 

 tioned, then quartered with his regiment at Derby, it appears that he 

 seriously engaged in it ; but his diffidence, and his desire of rendering the 

 work perfect, still delayed the publication. It may here be mentioned, 

 that Mr. Templeton was a frequent contributor to the English Botany 

 published by Sir J. E. Smith and Mr. Sowerby, to the Fud published by 

 Mr. Dawson Turner, to the Conferva of Mr. Dillwyn, and to the Musco- 

 IRfgia of his friends Drs. Hooker and Taylor. He also furnished many re- 

 marks on the cultivation of plants to Professor Martyn, for his folio edition 

 of Miller's Dictionary^ and to the Rev. Messrs. Dubourdieu and Sampson 

 for their County Reports, though much was admitted in these which his 

 better judgment would have disapproved, and which was afterwards the 

 subject of severe but just censure. To English Botany he sent, besides 

 thei^osa hibernica and Orobanche rubra, FunariaTempletonia, Conferva par- 

 adoxa, and Jungermannia gracillima, original discoveries of his own; and 

 twenty other plants found in Ireland, all cryptogamic except the Ew^hovhia 

 hibernica. But Mr. Templeton did not confine his attention to botany. 

 Skilled, like Linnaeus, in the various departments of natural history, his 

 comprehensive mind planned, what he was peculiarly well qualified to exe- 

 cute, a general natural history of Ireland. His preparations for this work 

 were considerable, and he continued to labour at it to the last, being with- 

 held from publication by his desire to render it complete. Though 



