SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 375 



were much to the Monarch's liking; and a country gen- 

 tleman who never troubled himself with Parliamentary 

 life, nor ever desired to rise above the rank he was born 

 to, was sure to find a friend in His Majesty. Though a 

 tory, and very firm in his opinions, both in Church and 

 State, he was anything rather than a party man. He 

 never interfered in politics beyond using his legitimate 

 influence in Lincolnshire and Derbyshire, where his 

 property lay, to aid those country gentlemen whom he 

 believed fitted to make useful representatives of the 

 landed interest ; and so entirely devoid of common party 

 feelings was his use of this influence, that he always 

 supported Lord Yarborough, then Mr. Pelham, a whig, 

 as well as Mr. Chaplin, a tory. This just and impartial 

 conduct was not displeasing to the King; and among 

 other marks of good-will, was his recommending to Sir 

 Joseph an attention to agricultural pursuits. I have 

 heard him say that he took to farming by the King's 

 desire. He pursued this pleasing occupation with his 

 characteristic energy, and understood its principles tho- 

 roughly, as he practised it with far more than the 

 success that usually attends amateurs. When the King 

 fell hopelessly ill, in 1811, I well remember Sir Joseph 

 Banks saying, he had ceased since then being a farmer, 

 having only "taken up the trade by His Majesty's 

 commands." 



A common story is to be found in the slight at- 

 tempts that have been made to write his life, as if 

 the Ministers were used occasionally to employ his 

 personal influence with the King, to obtain his consent 

 to measures which he disliked. I will venture to give 

 this statement a very peremptory contradiction. I am 

 pretty confident that he never would have undertaken 



