SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 



which he was engaged at the time of his death* 

 His only separate publication was a pamphlet on 

 the blight in wheat, but there are several of his 

 papers in the Philosophical and Horticultural 

 Transactions. We have before alluded to his 

 description of Staffa in Pennant's Second Tour 

 in Scotland. 



In early life Sir Joseph was tall and well 

 proportioned, with a countenance expressive 

 of dignity and intelligence. His manners were 

 polite, his conversation rich in instructive informa- 

 tion, frank, engaging, unaffected, without levity, 

 yet endowed with sufficient vivacity. He was an 

 accomplished gentleman, a judicious inquirer, a 

 diligent votary, and a liberal patron of science 

 and learning. The period of his life was one pecu- 

 liarly fitted to render his talents and patronage 

 of great importance to the advancement of natural 

 history. The encouragement given by the Govern- 

 ment to voyages of discovery, afforded a striking 

 opportunity for a gentleman of wealth and influence 

 to ensure a proper attention being paid to these 

 important subjects by taking on himself the 

 expense of all the arrangements connected with 

 their illustration. In addition to this no trifling 

 advantage, Mr Banks added his own personal 

 services. On his return, those benefits naturally 

 placed him in a prominent point of view ; and by 

 forming at his house a repository of all that was 



