HOUSING AT KEW 347 



death of both in the same year cut short the project, and in 

 1823 George IV. sold house and grounds to the nation. In 

 1830 William IV. granted it to the Duchess of Cumberland 

 for her life. From 1837, when the Duke succeeded to the 

 Throne of Hanover, it was known as ' The King of Hanover's 

 House.' 



Now it reverted to Banks' purpose. Herbarium and 

 library were placed here, and formally made accessible to 

 botanists, while the Government assumed the cost of main- 

 tenance and provided a scientific curator. 



True that from Sir William's first days at Glasgow, his 

 botanical treasures ' had been open to botanists, as was its 

 owner's hospitable table to visitors from a distance.' Neverthe- 

 less to the condition first proposed that the Herbarium should 

 be thrown open to the public, while its owner paid for its up- 

 keep and a curator, the younger Hooker demurred ; Sir William 

 had already halved his income by leaving Glasgow for Kew, 

 and such a step meant surrendering to the Crown all private 

 rights in this valuable property without adequate return. 

 Possession of it, moreover, was an excellent lever to use in 

 the gradual reorganisation of Kew from a semi-private to a 

 wholly national establishment, the official home of botany 

 with scientific and popular interests fairly adjusted, the centre 

 to which lesser botanical centres should be correlated with 

 due subordination. This transition clearly could only be 

 effected through the Hookers, father and son, who owned 

 so much of the material and were ready to enlist their un- 

 rivalled powers under the Government in the service of science 

 and the nation. 



Two important pieces of work under Government auspices 

 now lay immediately before Hooker. One was to complete 

 the botany of Boss's Voyage for the Admiralty. So far he 

 had only published the Flora Antarctica in two quarto volumes 

 (1847), with 200 plates out of the 500 for which an official grant 

 of 2 each was made to cover the printer's bill. There remained 

 the Floras of New Zealand, Australia, and Tasmania, and he 

 made the usual application for his half-pay as Naval Surgeon 

 to support him'^while completing this Admiralty work. This 



