1851.] Linnean Society. 133 



The Rev. Stepheti Long Jacob, by seniority the fourth on our List 

 of Fellows, was educated at Worcester College, Oxford, and took 

 his degree of M.A. in 1737. in 1799 he was collated by Archbishop 

 Moore to the livings of Waldershare and Whitfield in the county of 

 Kent, and in 1806 presented by the Dean and Chapter of Windsor 

 to that of Woolavington cum Puriton in Somersetshire, which toge- 

 ther with the former he held until his death. He died at Woola- 

 vington, on the 4th of February in the present year, at the age of 

 86. His election into the Linnean Society bears date in 1795, and 

 he had consequently been a Felluw for more than fifty-five years. 



The Rev. William Kirby, M.A. — Of this truly excellent naturalist 

 and amiable man a biographical account is now in preparation by a 

 relative well-qualified for the task. In the meantime, as the essen- 

 tial features of his long and useful life had already been sketched 

 in a notice communicated to the Entomological Society by his friend 

 and fellow-labourer Mr. Spence, the Secretary availed himself of 

 the kind permission of that gentleman to repeat the substance of it 

 here : — 



Mr. Kirby M^as descended from a family deserving honourable 

 mention, from its connexion with literature. His grandfather, John 

 Kirby, born in the year 1690, was author of 'The SuflFolk Tra- 

 veller,' a work of no mean reputation in its day. His uncle, Joshua 

 Kirby, was the author of Dr. Brook Taylor's ' Perspective made 

 Easy ;' he was an intimate acquaintance of Gainsborough, and fre- 

 quently his adviser ; and such was Gainsborough's regard for his 

 friend, that he made a special request in his will that he might be 

 buried by his side ; a desire which was carried into effect. This 

 Joshua Kirby afterwards became a great favourite with His Majesty 

 George III., and i-eceived, through his patronage, the office of 

 comptroller of the works at Kew. The celebrated Mrs. Trimmer 

 was his daughter, and consequently first-cousin to our deceased 

 Fellow. Mr. Kirby was born in the year 1759, at Witnesham Hall, 

 in the county of Suffolk, the residence of his father, who was by 

 profession a solicitor ; he was educated at the Grammar School in 

 Ipswich, whence he removed, in his seventeenth year, to Caius Col- 

 lege, Cambridge. Here he pursued his studies with diligence, and 

 laid so good a foundation, that he subsequently earned the reputa- 

 tion of being a sound and accurate scholar. In the j'ear 1781 he 

 took the degree of B.A. ; in the year 1782 he was admitted into 

 Holy Orders, having been nominated by the Rev. Nicholas Bacon 

 to the joint curacies of Barham and Coddenham, near Ipswich. By 

 his exemplary conduct in the discharge of his parochial duties, he 



