41(3 PllorEKniyaS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxix. 



persons, and more particular!}' of Sir Joseph Banks/' a sanction, too, 

 o-iven in a niunncr the most flattering/' He was allowed to dedicate 

 his Universal Conchologist to the King-, which meant, in those days, 

 that at least he was a person properly vouched for. We may fancy 

 he was not inimical to the Roman faith, since his lirst copy, or at least 

 the copy among- those presented to dignitaries which was earliest 

 rewarded by a medal, was sent to the Pope Pius VI. That he was a 

 man of alert mind, interested in many things, is indicated by the list of 

 his publications, which begins with a quarto essay on ballooning, hav- 

 ing a colored frontispiece representing a supposedly dirigible balloon 

 of the author's design. This is followed by the Universal Conch- 

 ologist; by a pamphlet suggesting a national assessment for the main- 

 tenance of disabled soldiers and sailors; by the English Entomologist, 

 including illustrations of more than five hundred British beetles; by a 

 work on spiders, based in part on Albin's original drawings purchased 

 at the sale of the Portland collection in 1786,'' plates of plants and 

 lepidopterous insects; an anti-Napoleonic pamphlet; and one entitled 

 Great Britain's Jubilee Monitor; the list finally winds up with a new 

 edition of the Natural System of Colors, by the late Moses Harris, 

 edited by Martyn in 1811, a quarto publication dedicated to our own 

 Benjamin West, "the British Raphael.''*' 



All this shows a man of alert and original mind, artistic, scientific, 

 philanthropic, and patriotic. The character of the illustrations which 

 have come down to us show that the artistic faculty of iSiartyn, as 

 regards the representation of o])iects of natural history, was some- 

 thing quite out of the ordinary. His presence in that part of the Dic- 

 tionary of Living Authors which was (as indicated by the running- 

 date) prepared in 1815, leads to the conclusion that he was then living, 

 and a note in the preface to his pamphlet of 1801 informs us of the 

 existence of a son, who, by the favor of the Duke of York, to whom 

 the pamphlet was dedicated, had been recommended for a commission 

 in the ro3'al army. 



The manner of preparing the plates of his iconographies is described 

 by Martyn in the preface to the second issue of his Conchologist, in 

 1789, and is creditable to his ingenuity. 



Finding that considerations of expense and discipline made it im- 

 practicable to secure the service desired from independent artists, "he 



« Banks, who was on excellent terms with George III, may very possibly have 

 procured the royal consent to the dedication of the Universal Conchologist to his 

 majesty. 



'J Portland Catalogue, p. 119, No. 2623. 



''The first edition, published in the author's lifetime, had been dedicated to Sir 

 Joshua Reynolds. Harris, like JNIartyn, was an entomologist and artist of no mean 

 capacity, and his British Aurelian has passed through four editions, the last edited 

 by Westwood so late as 1S40. Harris is believed to have died about 1785, and his 

 career may have been instrumental in leading Martyn to undertake his own 

 iconographies. 



