92 PT^OCEEDTXQS OF THE 



on his death. This jilan was only partially acceptable to George 

 Beiitham, who wished to embark on some profession which would 

 render him independent of his relatives. After much consul- 

 tation, it was arranged that he should enter Lincoln's Inn and 

 read for the bar, whilst giving some hours each morning to his 

 uncle's work, and again in tlie evening. This arrangement lasted 

 until Jeremy's death in 1832, when George Bentliam found him- 

 self master of a house in Queen-square Place, but, owing to 

 various circumstances, with less property than was expected ; 

 but his father's death in the previous year made this of com- 

 paratively small importance. During these six years his life was 

 one of incessant mental activity. Besides tlie work he accom- 

 plished for his uncle, he edited and partly rewrote his father's 

 papers on naval administration. 



In 1827 he published his ' Outlines of a new System of Logic,' 

 with a criticism of Dr. Whateley's 'Elements,' in which the 

 doctrine of the quantification of the predicate is for the first time 

 set forth ; only a few copies of this work were disposed of, when 

 the publishers failed, and the stock was sold as w^aste paper. 

 Probably it was ow'ing to this that it was not until 1850 that 

 Bentham's discovery was recognized, in the ' Athenaeum ' for 

 December 21st; when a controversy arose as to his or Sir Wil- 

 liam Hamilton's claims to the discovery, wliich has been adju- 

 dicated ill flavour of Bentham. 



In 1829 he undertook the Honorary Secretaryship of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society, at a period when, by excessively wasteful 

 expenditure, the Society was reduced to a very low ebb. Being a 

 common friend of Joseph Sabine, the Hon. Sec, and Dr. John 

 Lindley, the Assistant-Secretary, he took up the burden at their 

 joint solicitation, and only laid it down in 184^0, when the Society 

 had been successfully navigated by himself into more prosperous 

 times. It was during this space of time that so many of our 

 most popular garden plants were introduced by the ill-fated 

 Douglas, Hartweg, and other collectors, many of which plants 

 were named and described by Bentham in the Society's publi- 

 cations. The Chiswick fetes, too, were instituted whilst Bentliam 

 was Secretary, the first being held on April 3rd, 1832, 1700 people 

 being present. 



He attended the gathering of scientific men at Hamburg in 

 1830, greatly to his delight, as testified by his pleasant recollection 

 of it after the lapse of half a century. 



By the publication of his first important botanical work, ' La- 

 biatarum Genera et Species,' 1832-3G, he made his mark in the 

 scientific world. The Order needed a monographer of Bentham's 

 judicial and pliilosophical mind to classify its numerous species 

 and genera scientifically. 



Three years later, in 1835, he married the daughter of Sir Har- 

 ford Brydges, Bart., of Boultibrooke, and the next year removed to 

 his late uncle's bouse in Queeu-square Place, where he resided till 



