Miscellaneous. 477 



The hint was in so far taken, from this prediction, that Don was 

 bound apprentice to the gardener at Dupplin Castle, in Perthshire, 

 a near relation of his own. While in this situation he devoted his 

 leisure time to the study of the natural sciences, especially botany ; 

 but he was careful not to neglect his employment. The fact is, 

 that while still at that age at which the majority of boys addict 

 themselves to frivolous sports, Don was a general and successful 

 observer in the fields, and student in the closet ; and he continued 

 to be so under all the vicissitudes of a very varied life. The botany 

 of the Grampians, and the secondary hills at their base, was a fa- 

 vourite study with him at the commencement, and continued to be 

 so till the close of his life. 



On leaving Dupplin he went to the south of England, and after 

 a short residence there he visited the continent. On the completion 

 of this tour, he returned to Forfar, along with a relation of his own, 

 and soon after established a nursery and botanical collection of 

 plants at Doo Hillock, a spot remarkably well adapted for his pur- 

 pose, from the great diversity of the soil. Though of very limited 

 extent, some parts of it are very elevated and dry ; and the soil 

 passes through all the gradations, from this to a sludgy peat bog. 

 Consequently the soils best suited to every variety of British plants 

 were found within a short distance of each other. While settled 

 here he resumed his observations of nature with fresh ardour, and in 

 the course of his studies passed many nights on the Grampians, 

 sometimes with only the shelter of his cloak. 



After residing for some time in Forfar, he went to Edinburgh, 

 where he studied in the medical classes, and acquired some acquaint- 

 ance with the theory and the practice of the healing art. Amid all 

 this study and practice, he also evinced much knowledge and dex- 

 terity in the mechanical arts ; and had his main studies not led him 

 to different subjects, he would have been a first-rate artist in the 

 construction of time-keepers, and the finer parts of spinning and 

 other machinery ; for even circumstanced as he was, he gave prac- 

 tical proofs of the skill of his head and the dexterity of his hand in 

 such matters. 



Some time after, having taken up his residence in Edinburgh, he 

 was appointed Curator of the Botanic Garden there. This appoint- 

 ment brought him in contact with the ablest men in Edinburgh, of 

 pursuits similar to his own ; and, among others, with Mr. Patrick 

 Neill, Secretary to the Wernerian Society, and author of some ad- 

 mirable memoirs on scientific subjects. This friendship, begun in 

 congeniality of feeling, went on increasing, till it was closed by the 

 death of Mr. Don in January 1814, or the same month in 1816. 

 Several years before this he had returned to Forfar, to resume the 

 cultivation of his nursery and the study of nature ; and here conti- 

 nued to reside till his death. Altogether, Mr. George Don was an 

 extraordinary man, both for the vigour and the versatility of his 

 talent ; and had the vicissitudes of his life been recorded and pre- 

 pared for the press by a competent biographer, they would have 



