476 
Very dear Sir, - London, Feb. 8, 1808. 
Your favour of the 11th October gave me the 
more pleasure as it was unexpected, for you were so 
much occupied that I did not venture to ask such 
an indulgence. The letter which contains the kind 
expression of your good-will must be always a 
treasure to me. 
On coming home one evening, I found your 
Introduction to Botany. This too was unexpected. 
I thank you very heartily, and may say Vous me 
comblez without an hyberbole. The Preface is ex- 
cellent; the reflections are perfectly just, and place 
this delightful science in its proper light. Some 
paragraphs affected me in a manner which I cannot 
well describe, and which I have frequently expe- 
rienced in reading Linné and Pliny. The termina- 
ting one, p. 338, is one of these. Did you ever ob- 
serve in reading anything which affected the mind 
by its energy or sublimity, that the blood flowed 
more copiously to the heart, leaving a chill on the 
surface of the body? I cannot explain it, but I 
never read Linné’ss Introduction to the Systema 
Nature without this sensation. 
I feel all that you say of botany as an introduc- 
tion to amiable characters, for the little I know of it 
has brought me acquainted with some of the best and 
most worthy persons in every country that I have 
visited, and those whom I shall always love. The 
converse of such persons cherishes the flame of phi- 
lanthropy within me. The study of Natural History, 
if pursued on right principles, thus serves to keep 
