Lis Notice of British Naturalists. 
should inherit a handsome property on his father’s death ; and in 
the mean time his allowance was such, that while it afforded him 
a comfortable competence, it prevented his indulging in luxu- 
ries; or seeking, in a more expensive sphere, for a higher stand- 
ard of mind. and action. The law he never practiced; anda 
few years after leaving college, he married, and settled down asa 
quiet country gentleman. It was not till he was about forty 
years of age, that he came into possession of his patrimony. 
His mind however, was naturally active ; and he was constantly 
employed in laying a foundation, in other studies, for his future 
eminence in the walks of natural science. Intimate social inter 
course he appears particularly to have enjoyed. He was far from 
shutting himself out from the society of his friends; he mixed 
freely with such as his neighborhood afforded; and with the 
marked politeness of the old school of manners, he highly relished 
the company of the fair sex. He has left a few sonnets of his 
own composing, which he addressed to particular ladies; and 
while the verse is neither very polished, nor manifests much 
study or care, the whole is marked by a pleasing playfulness 
of fancy ; an enlightened conception of the beauties of nature, 
(the constituents of poetry,) and a high moral delicacy. During 
this time, his attention seems to have been turned to the prac- 
tical and economical uses of natural science ; and he thus refers 
to the subject in his preface to British Zoology ;—“ At a time 
when the study of natural history seems to revive in Europe; 
and the pens of several illustrious foreigners have been employed 
in enumerating the productions of their respective countries, W@ 
~ are unwilling that our island should remain insensible to its Pe 
culiar advantages; we are desirous of diverting the astonishment 
of our countrymen at the gifts of nature bestowed on other king- 
doms, to a contemplation of those which (at least with e4 
bounty) she has enriched our own. Why then should we neg- 
lect inquiring into the various benefits that result from these _ 
stances of the wisdom of our Creator, which. his.divine munifi- 
cence has so liberally and so munificently placed before us tgs 
wnt 
* The study of the economical uses of natural history has been, hitherto, very 
; : é : ‘ f 
little cultivated, and requires more general attention. As a true science it has, ° 
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