Sir J. E. Smith's English Flora. 161 



same with those of France and Germany : and we may add, that the 

 mosses which we have received from the higher parts of North America 

 and from Kamtschatscka, are almost identical with those of Europe; 

 whilst, with regard to the Jungermanniw of the two countries now men- 

 tioned, although we have had the opportunity of examining many species, 

 there is not one that has not been also detected in England and Scotland. 



Britain, nevertheless, from the very circumstance of its being an island, 

 and having its vegetation circumscribed within certain limits, must be al- 

 lowed to possess much that is interesting in what concerns its botany ; 

 and it yields to no country in the successful manner in which its vege- 

 table productions have been investigated. 



Sir James Smith, in his preface to the English Floi-a, has given a gene- 

 ral and admirably written view of the works which have been published 

 on the Botany of Britain ; but which, (since the book is in the hands of 

 every one at all concerned in the subject,) as we have not space to copy 

 entire, so we shall not injure, by any attempts to curtail. Our principal 

 object, in this place, will be to show how much Sir James Smith has him- 

 self effected during a long period of years, and with a constitution which 

 has, we fear, suffered by close application to his favourite pursuit ; and 

 what further accession may be expected to be made to the Flora by some 

 of the most zealous promoters of British Botany, whom we have, at this 

 time, the pleasure of numbering among our acquaintance. 



It was at an early period of his botanical career, that Sir James Smith 

 became possessed of the invaluable Linnsean Collection, which alone would 

 have afforded him advantages over every other naturalist, in whatever Sys- 

 tematic work he might have undertaken. Happily this, great as it might 

 be, was not the only qualification possessed by our author. To his ex- 

 tensive botanical acquirements are added the high attainments of an ele- 

 gant scholar, and a talent at composition which has rendered his writings 

 universally popular, and has been the means of throwing a charm over 

 his botanical writings, scarcely known to the science before. We could 

 here, were it necessary, appeal to almost every page of the English Botany 

 in confirmation of our assertion ; to the Introductory Discourse which was 

 read at the opening of the Linnsean Society, and which was printed in 

 the first volume of the Transactions of that body ; to the lives of the va- 

 rious botanists in Rees' Cyclopaedia, and the several botanical articles in 

 that work from the same pen ; and lastly, not to mention others, the pre- 

 face to the Introduction to the Study of Botany, and that of the work be- 

 fore us ; every where displaying the science in its most amiable point of 

 view ; recommending it for the pleasure and delight it affords, whether in 

 the field or in the closet ; but above all, as a means " of enlarging the un- 

 derstanding by a perpetual display of the power and wisdom of God, and 

 encouraging our best hopes by sure testimonies of his goodness:" whilst, 

 on the other hand, he tells us, that " none but the most foolish or deprav- 

 ed could derive any thing from the pursuit but what is beautiful, or pol- 

 lute its lovely scenery with unamiable or unhallowed imagery." 



Possessing these qualifications then, and these feelings, the publication 



VOL. Ill, NO. I. JULY 1825. L 



