SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 45 



ever a zealous promoter of the interests of the 

 Board of Agriculture and the Horticultural 

 Society, — not making his favourite studies a mere 

 barren and speculative amusement, but ever ready 

 to render them subservient to purposes of general 

 utility. Indeed, there was no institution for the 

 encouragement of science, or that proposed to 

 enlarge and multiply the comforts of mankind by 

 the diffusion of knowledge, by useful experiments, 

 or by diligent investigation, that he did not libe- 

 rally and cordially patronize. He took an active 

 and a leading part in the formation of the African 

 Institution ; he prevailed on the Government to 

 explore the extensive shores of New Holland ; and 

 was a strenuous supporter of the Royal Institu- 

 tion. 



In these pursuits, and in the exercise of a gene- 

 rous hospitality, passed the latter days of Sir 

 Joseph Banks. His house in Soho Square was 

 open every Sunday evening during the winter 

 season. The kind and attentive manner in which 

 he discharged the duties of host, the brilliancy 

 of his conversation, the galaxy of talented indi- 

 viduals he collected around him, the display 

 of curiosities in nature and art with which the 

 rooms were crowded, rendered these meetings an 

 intellectual treat of no ordinary kind, the recol- 

 lection of which will long survive in the memory 

 of his friends. He latterly became a martyr to the 



