50 STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY 
the Continent, it seems to have made no great pro- 
gress among us, were we to judge from the paucity 
of works then published in Britain. Edwards, it 
is true, was going on with his excellent History of 
Birds; and Borlase had done something to illustrate 
the natural history of Cornwall; but no new work 
of any moment appeared in England between the 
years 1755 and 1766 ; when our accomplished coun- 
tryman Pennant gave that impetus to the science, 
which it seems to have required. Pennant was a 
scholar and a gentleman, possessing great and varied 
acquirements. He was versed in classic and in his- 
torical learning; and passionately attached to the 
natural history of his own country. His works, in 
all these departments, are numerous; but he is 
chiefly known among us as the first who treated the 
natural history of Britain in a popular and interesting 
style.* He followed the system of Linnzus, except 
in that strange and unnatural arrangement of the 
primary orders of birds, which he fell into, and 
which was the more inexcusable, after the writings 
of Willughby. There are no novelties of arrange- 
ment in the works of Pennant, and no original re- 
search, beyond the accession of new species; but he 
contrived to give great interest to his descriptions, 
by enriching them from the stores of his classic and 
antiquarian knowledge. Hence he enjoyed great 

* Thomas Pennant. British Zoology, 1 vol. folio. Lon- 
don, 1766. Ditto, in 4to. Ditto, in 8vo., 4 vols. 1812. 
— Synopsis of Quadrupeds. Chester, 1771. 1 vol. 8vo. — 
History of Quadrupeds. London, 1793. — Genera of Birds. 
London, 1781. 1 vol. 4to. — Indian Zoology. London, 1790. 
1 vol. 4to. — Arctic Zoology. London, 1792. 2 vols. 4to. - 
