388 



offices subsisted between two men, who equally ex- 

 perienced that " il y a dans la botanique un charme 

 quon ne sent que dans le plein calme des passions, 

 mats qui suffit seul alors pour rendre la vie heureux 

 et douce." 



Sir James's sentiments towards the clergy of the 

 Establishment cannot be better shown than in a 

 letter he addressed, some years ago, to a dignitary 

 of the church, upon his tendering his resignation 

 as Fellow of the Linnaean Society : — 



Dear Sir, 

 I found your letter on the table of the Linnaean 

 Society at our anniversary meeting, and read your 

 resignation with much regret, while I felt obliged 

 by your having so largely stated your reasons. Had 

 I been previously informed of your intention, I 

 should have been anxious to have altered it, and 

 might therefore have presumed to controvert some 

 of those reasons. I have always been particularly 

 happy to see my favourite study cultivated by per- 

 sons eminent in character or station, and especially 

 by the clergy, who, whether of dignified rank, or 

 in the humble, not less venerable, walk of country 

 pastors, may, in following this pursuit, be eminently 

 useful to those around them ; while they relax their 

 own minds from severer studies, and derive health 

 of body, with tranquillity of mind, from one of the 

 purest of all sources. Indeed they are but following 

 one precept of Him who, as I have always thought, 

 conferred the highest honour on our study that it 

 ever received, and exalted a pleasure into almost a 



