WITHDRAWAL FROM OFFICIAL POSTS 243 



Subsequently, also, Hooker refused to be put forward for the 

 presidency of the Linnean and the Geographical Societies, 

 even for the sake of battling for desirable reforms, especially 

 where his efforts were likely to produce no more effect than 

 ' pinching a pillow.' That form of work belonged to the past. 



But his experience and authority were still in demand, 

 and he found it impossible to escape from the ' endless Councils 

 and Committees in London of which I am heartily tired,' as 

 he tells Asa Gray, May 26, 1885. ' The grasshopper becometh 

 a burden at last,' he confesses to Huxley (1884), even in regard 

 to ' The Club,' that ' mixed lot of savans and swells, all very 

 agreeable as far as my experience goes.' Meantime he threw 

 himself into his official work at Kew as energetically as ever, 

 ably seconded by his skilful lieutenant, only indulging in a 

 ' growl ' to his intimates now and again. There was no prospect 



life he writes of him as ' One who by his artistic talents contributed to the value 

 of my Father's work.' 



On Sir William's death in 1865, Sir Joseph became editor, and remained 

 so until 1904, when, owing to his living at a distance from Kew, he felt himself 

 unable to continue his duties. Under him and Walter Fitch the magazine 

 attained its greatest height of excellence, and some very interesting and re- 

 markable plants were figured. Mr. J. G. Baker, Assistant Keeper, and later 

 Keeper of the Herbarium, supplied the letterpress for the Monocots, but all the 

 rest were described by Sir Joseph himself, until some few years before his 

 withdrawal, when Dr. W. B. Hemsley, Keeper of the Herbarium, gave him 

 such great assistance that both their names occur on the title-page of Sir 

 Joseph's last volume (130th). 



Even in 1898, when dedicating the 124th volume to Dr. Hemsley, Sir Joseph 

 says, the dedication ' is offered as a record of the interest you have shown in 

 this work, and an acknowledgment of the valuable aid I have received from 

 you in conducting it.' 



One great crisis was safely surmounted in 1878, when Fitch gave up his 

 connection with the magazine, which was left with little or no stock of drawings 

 to fill its monthly issue. But Sir Joseph's energy was equal to the occasion ; he 

 secured the continuance of J. N. Fitch's services as lithographer, and succeeded 

 in getting various artists to contribute. His daughter, Mrs. (now Lady) Thisel- 

 ton-Dyer, and his sister-in-law, Mrs. Barnard, daughter of Prof. Henslow, both 

 contributed drawings for some five or six years (in part), with most praiseworthy 

 and admirable results, considering the ' Master ' they followed, while Miss 

 Eleanor Ormerod, the entomologist, and others helped to supply a few plates. 

 No less than nine different names appear in that volume (105th). It was then 

 that the editor undertook to train the present artist, Miss Smith, and thanks 

 to his skilled instruction and high standard of artistic feeling, she was able to 

 be of use at once, and finally to become the sole artist with J. N. Fitch as 

 lithographer, and both continue to fill these posts up to the present time. On 

 Sir Joseph's withdrawal in 1904, Sir William Thiselton-Dyer edited two volumes, 

 and at the end of 1906 the present Director (Sir David Prain) succeeded to 

 the editorship. 



