HIS HERBARIUM PRESENTED TO A UNIVERSITY. 419 



Nature, which had been fraught to himself with so much 

 blessing ; for he had been able above many 



" To recognize, 



In Nature and the language of the sense, 

 The anchor of our purest thoughts, the nurse, 

 The guide, the guardian of our hearts, and soul 

 Of all our moral being." 



He also sent two volumes as a last gift to James Taylor. 



When John Taylor left, bearing the precious and heavy 

 load of plants on his strong shoulders, John brightly called 

 it " a gey bir'n," as he viewed it with sparkling pleasure, 

 subdued by sadness. The old man accompanied him to 

 the stile, staff in hand, as in the old days, though without 

 the old vitality. He then shook hands with him three 

 times in succession, with a look and pressure of deep 

 emotion, and then turned away in silence and with a full 

 heart. 



It took John Taylor all his leisure till December to 

 complete the selecting, arranging, localising, cleaning, and 

 cataloguing of the immense collection. The specimens 

 had been classed and named by John according to the 

 Linnsean system, to which he adhered throughout. Mr. 

 Taylor re-arranged them and made a list of the whole 

 according to the Natural System also. It was a very 

 laborious piece of work, which could only have been done 

 .by one who viewed it really as a loving labour. 



John Taylor reports that of the 1428 species that form 

 the flora of Scotland and England, John's collection, 

 dilapidated though it was, contained, when it came into 

 his hands, 1131 specimens, and, of course, had once included 

 .many more, if not most ; that John was familiar with most 



