INTEERUPTED AID 349 



ment through his father for a continuance of the £400 a year 

 originally granted him in India, and the tenancy, at whatever 

 rent was usually asked, of one of the Crown houses hard by, 

 unoccupied at the moment, where he could live and keep his 

 collections, in close touch with all the materials for reference 

 at Kew. It was surely the duty of the Department, whose 

 commissioned officer he had been, to see that the work com- 

 missioned should be adequately completed. 



This view of the case, however, his father was at first 

 unwilling to adopt. However great Joseph's services had 

 been, however deserving of later furtherance, the Department, 

 he thought, had entirely fulfilled its duty by the simple grant 

 of the sum originally asked for the Indian expedition. Any- 

 thing more must be a matter of favour, not of due. Was 

 the Department in arrears for the amount of its last year's 

 grant ? He offered his own purse instead ; and prepared 

 to make an appeal ad misericordiam, much to his son's mis- 

 liking. 



All this [the latter writes to Bentham, April 2, 1851] 

 is due to his excess of modesty ; it is equally certain that 

 he looks on his own Crown salary as mere kindness on 

 the part of Govt, to himself, and that the fact of his 

 liking his work and being willing or able to hold his post 

 at half pay, would justify the Crown in cutting it down so 

 much, should they wish to be just rather than liberal as they 

 are in his opinion to himself. 



Indeed it was rather a question of himself wanting aid, 

 what with his broken health, the often trying Garden duty, 

 and the extension of the Herbarium and Museum beyond his 

 powers, while he saw ' the great accumulation of scientific 

 objects which are gradually being consigned to obhvion in 

 favour of showy articles.' But this was a subject which his 

 son could not broach to him ; it must be left to older friends 

 like Bentham or Henslow. 



But Sir William consented to delay making the apphcation 

 till he had consulted with these old friends ; and meanwhile 

 the presidents of the various learned Societies spontaneously 



