JOHN JOSEPH BENNETT. 



103 



assist scientific inquirers, his varied and exact knowledge, and his 

 intimate acquaintance with the National Herbarium, as well as with 

 the literature and science of botany — all these, combined in the one 

 man, made his help sought by botanists, and that all the more readily 

 because it was so kindly and cheerfully given. 



He took little active part in the world outside science, but he was 

 a careful and interested observer of passing events. He had very 

 decided political views, which he sometimes expressed with great 

 vigour. He was an advanced Liberal, and though a Churchman was 

 for many years convinced that, in the interests of the Church, as well 

 as of the wider interests of religion, the JN'utional Church should be 

 disestablished. He was a truly pious man, having a simple, child-like 

 faith in the doctrines of the Gospel, and exhibiting the Christian 

 character in his every-day life. His benevolent disposition, and his 

 dislike to put himself in opposition, not unfrequently induced him to 

 refrain from action wliere it would necessarily tread on the opinions or 

 conduct of others, even when he could not approve of the position of 

 his opponents. When, however, he saw anything to be duty he could 

 not be moved from persevering in its discharge to its legitimate issue, 

 whatever trouble it might impose upon himself or annoyance it might 

 cause to others. 



His health became somewhat impaired in 1868, and as he felt dis- 

 inclined to undertake any unnecessary exertion, his summer holidays 

 then and after were spent in some quiet retreat at no great dis- 

 tance from London. At this time he had again to defend the 

 existence of the Department against the fresh attack on the part of 

 the Director of Kew, made through the Board of Works, and this he 

 did by so exhaustive a reply that his statement not only satisfied 

 the Trustees of the British Museum, but also the authorities of 

 the Board of Works, and it is believed considerably modified their 

 views of the opinions so frequently advanced in favour of carrying 

 the collections of dried plants and the study of systematic botany 

 to Kew. 



The autumn of 1870 found him at Maresfield, Sussex, and he was 

 so charmed with the district that he resolved to establish himself 

 there when he retired from his office in the Museum, which he ha I 

 for some time resolved to do on the completion of his year's service. 

 Accordingly on the 9th of November, 1870, he sent in his resignation 

 to the Trustees, and on the 20th December he reluctantly terminated an 

 official connection which had lasted more than forty-three years, during 

 which his services .had at all times been rendered with untiring 

 devotion to the best interests of the establishment. 



Early in 1871 he removed from his house at New Cross to Mares- 

 field, resolved to quit the world and all its worries, and to pass the rest 

 of his days in quiet seclusion. 



He, however, continued to take a lively interest in the Museum, 

 and in 1871 he carefully perused the evidence presented to the Royal 

 Commission on Science by several witnesses on behalf of Kew, and by 

 myself on behalf of the Museum Herbarium. At his request I sent 

 down a copy of the evidence for his perusal, which he returned with 

 the note, "Your answers appear to me to, be quite satisfactory, and 

 with my previous statements 1 can't think it at all likely that Kew will 



