Memoirs of Erasmus JDarivhi, M. D. 43 



sibiHty his writings and whole Hfe declare, and he thus de- 

 picts himself his true cliaracter : 



And now, e'en I, whose verse reluctant sings 

 The changeful state of sublunary things. 

 Bend o'er mortality with silent sighs. 

 And wipe the secret tear-drops from my eyes. 

 Hear through the night one universal groan. 

 And mourn unseen for evils not my own ; 

 With restless limbs and throbbing heart complain, 

 Stietch'd on the rack of sentimental pain ! 



Partly with a view for the instruction of his sons, and of 

 the world at large, he commenced at Lichfield his Zoono- 

 mia, or Laws of Organic Life. 



He was much attached to botany, and the wild scenery of 

 nature. Living in a romantic countr}', and viewing it with 

 a poet's eye, and regretting that there were but few votaries 

 to it, probablv owing to the science being concealed in a 

 Jearned garb, he began, with Sir Brook Boothhy anc Dr. 

 Jackson, a Translation of the Genera and Species Planlaruna 

 of Linnoeus, which goes by the appellation of being done 

 by the Lichfield Botanical Society ; although it corsisted 

 only of those three persons, no others being found willing to 

 enter into that body. That Dr. Darwin was still proud of 

 this establishment is proved hy his ordering of Rivington, 

 Dr. Thornton's " New Illustration of the Sexual System, 

 including the Temple of Flora*," in the name and for the 

 Lichfield Botanical Society, although the doctor was now 

 settled at Derby. 



If there was any thing yet wanting to establish Dr. Dar- 

 win's medical reputation at Lichfield, it was accomplished 

 by the recovery of the countess of Northcsk. This lad\' had 

 been under several eminent physiciairs of London and Bath, 

 and, finding their endeavours ineffectual, the countess was 

 advised to try her native air, and hid arrived as far as Lich- 

 field, on her journey home. There she learnt the great re- 



* Speaking of this work in his PlujUlogia, Dr. Darwin says, <■ I beg 

 leave to recoiniiicnii to tlie public the co'oureJ picturesque botanical pi ites 

 just published by Dr. Tbo:-nton, which I suppose has no equuL" 



putalioii 



