I 



Biography : — John Templeton^ Esq. 309 



ford, he explored the Mourne Mountains, which he afterwards visited witli 

 his friends, Dr. Stokes, Fellow of Dublin College, and Mr. J, T. Mackay, 

 the able superintendant of the Dublin College Botanic Garden, whose en- 

 thusiasm in the pursuit of botanical knowledge made him a great favourite 

 with our deceased friend. He went frequently to the Giants* Causeway, 

 and has left very interesting details of, at leastj two of his excursions to it, 

 which would together perhaps give a more satisfactory account of the coast 

 of Antrim than has yet been laid before the public. He also went over 

 most of Ulster, and as far west as Sligo. He examined the interesting re- 

 gions of the Wicklow mountains and valleys, but was never in the west or 

 south of Ireland, though he often projected expeditions to both. He made 

 a short tour through some interesting parts of Scotland, in company with 

 the late General M'Kinnon, to whom he was much attached, but does not 

 appear to have made any dicovery in that country. Like Linnaeus in 

 general knowledge and in enthusiastic attachment to science, Mr. Tem- 

 pleton differed much from him in one respect ; for whilst the great Swedish 

 naturalist was remarkable for vain and ostentatious display, he was very 

 modest and unassuming, so that no person who chanced to meet him would 

 ever have suspected that he was distinguished for knowledge; till, in course 

 of time, his communicative disposition would have discovered the treasures 

 of his mind. The high estimation in which he was held by other eminent 

 botanists is evident from the manner in which they speak of him. By 

 SirJ.E, Smith, Pres. Lin. Soc, of which Mr. Templeton was an associate, 

 he is frequently mentioned, and is spoken of as a most acute and observing 

 botanist. Other instances have been already quoted, and the letters in his 

 correspondence would supply more. In addition to the naturalists already 

 mentioned, he corresponded with the Rev. Dr. Fleming, author of a 

 valuable work on the Philosophy of Zoology ; Dr. Berger, the mineralo- 

 gist, Drs. Ogilby and Kennedy, two young physicians, who promised to 

 render important services to natural history had their lives been spared; 

 Dr. Barker, the Professor of Chemistry in Dublin College, and many others. 

 I have already pointed out Mr. Templeton as deserving of imitation by 

 naturalists on account of his humanity and tenderness ; I would also direct 

 your attention to his candour, and his anxiety to do justice to the claims 

 of others. Whilst no one was more alive to the pleasure of discovery, he 

 disdained to rob any man of his due praise. He took delight in speaking of 

 the acquisitions made by others, and was always ready to communicate his 

 own. He was also free from the faults, which Cowper has so well exposed, 

 of attributing events to second causes, without referring to the Great First 

 Cause. Many instances of this occur in his writings. Thus, in one of the 

 Naturalist's Reports, he says, " To mortal man it is not given to lift the veil 

 which conceals the mysteries of nature, and even after the most careful in- 

 vestigation, he beholds, but in part only, that economy which governs the 

 whole. Our winter birds of passage begin now to leave us, to revisit the 

 northern regions, and amidst the wilds of Lapland, Nova Zembla, and the 

 innumerable lakes within the arctic circle, to enjoy that peace and security 

 denied them in the more populous countries of the south. But by what 

 peculiar sensations they are enabled to hold their unerring course through 

 the pathless air, amidst darkness and storms, the human mind has not been 

 able to conceive, and man is led to look with humility 



* From nature up to nature's God.' " 



In another report, after noticing a number of striking circumstances, he con- 

 cludes thus : " Such and so various are the phenomena of the creation, 

 that we are led to exclaim, * Great is our God, and great is his power; and 

 his wisdom is unsearchable !' " 



