530 
quaintance, Mr. Crowe of Lakenham, one of his 
earliest and at all times most cordial well-wishers, 
who had great confidence in his judgement, endea- 
voured to persuade him to the practice of his pro- 
fession, and told him he should repeat the advice 
annually, convinced that he would rise to great emi- 
nence in it. 
There certainly were moments when Sir James 
took this advice into consideration, and reflected 
with some satisfaction upon the friends and confi- 
dence which his professional pursuits might procure 
him. His own experience of the value of a medi- 
cal friend made him look with complacency upon 
being useful in a similar way to others: but these 
were transient thoughts, for he knew that his fa- 
vourite occupation must frequently be interrupted 
if he once seriously engaged in practice as a physi- 
cian, and some apprehension as to his health endu- 
ring the requisite fatigue was a bar against a prompt 
decision to try the experiment.—The writer reflects 
with as much self-satisfaction as upon almost any 
determination in her life, that she never encouraged 
her husband to relinquish his proper pursuit for a 
new object :—not that she made any sacrifice in this ; 
a comparison of the possible advantages attending 
such a change weighed but little against the plea- 
sure of seeing him in a much happier situation ; in 
his peaceful library, amidst the /Voras of Greece and 
India, of the Alps and England. 
To keep up as much as possible a connection 
with the Linnean Society and his friends in Lon- 
don, Sir James spent at least two months every 
