Jl'LV, 1912. 



KNOWLEDGE. 



281 



exquisites. Banks is por- 

 trayed (see Figure 313) in the 

 act of endeavouring to capture 

 a splendidly-coloured butter- 

 fly with a bat-shaped fly- 

 catcher. Below the design 

 are the words : — 



I rove from pole to pole. Vou 



ask ine why. 

 I tell you truth, and catch a — fly. 



The " Simpling Macaroni" 

 IS an etched whole-length 

 p^utrait of Solander (see 

 I igure 312), holding in one 



•■ " - ■■•■ hand a large flowering plant, 



Figure 312. and in the other a naturalist's 



A Caricature of Solander. knife, on the blade of which 



is written the maker's name 



" Savigny," one of the 

 well-known eighteenth- 

 century makers of 

 scientific instruments. 

 Below we read : — 



Like Soland Goose from 



frozen zone I wander 

 On shallow Banks grow 



fat Solander I 



John Wolcot and 

 Thomas Rowlandson 

 joined forces to repre- 

 sent Sir Joseph Banks 

 as a promoter of a "' fly 

 club" (see Figure 315 >. 

 and John Gillray 

 produced a remarkable 

 cartoon in which he 

 depicted the " Great 

 South Sea Caterpillar, 

 transformed into a 

 Bath Butterfly " (see 

 Figure 314). 



Enter, Sir Joseph, glad- 

 dening Royal eyes. 



What holds his hand ? 

 A box of Butterflies ! 



Grubs, nests, and eggs of 

 humming - birds to 

 please, 



Newts. tadpoles, brains of 

 beetles, stings of bees. 



Wolcot devoted at 

 least three odes to the 

 ridicule of Banks, but 

 they do not appear to 

 have had any more 

 serious effect on the 

 successful grower of 

 strawberries at Spring 

 Grove, than fifty simi- 

 lar attacks by the same 

 ruthless hand had on ' 



the King and Queen at Windsor, Weymouth and 

 Kew. It was reported that the Royal Princesses 



were " vastly amused," and 

 so possibh- were Mrs. and 

 Miss Banks. 



To John Wedgwood, of 

 Betle\-, in Staftordshire.must, 

 according to Mr. George 

 Smith, be credited the orig- 

 inal idea from which the 

 Royal Horticultural Society 

 sprang. His identity has, 

 curiously enough, often been 

 confused with that of Josiah 

 Wedgwood, the famous 

 potter. John Wedgwood, of 

 Betley, was an enthusiastic 

 horticulturist and naturalist, 

 and an intimate friend of 

 Thomas Andrew Knight, w ho 



o/Mr. Jokn La 



Figure 314. 

 Cartoon of Sir Joseph Banks. 



Figure 313. 



A Caricature of Sir Joseph 



Banks. 



eventually became 

 President of the new ly- 

 formed association, 

 which certainly owed 

 much of its early 

 success to the inspirit- 

 ing influence of Spring 

 Grove. It was during 

 the last decade of the 

 eighteenth century that 

 the example set by 

 Banks was largely 

 followed by his 

 numerous friends and 

 acquaintances, many 

 of whom profited by 

 his advice in improv- 

 ing their existing 

 gardens and building 

 new hot-houses. " One 

 of these friends," Mr. 

 George Smith informs 

 us, "was Charles 

 Greville, the philan- 

 dering nephew^ of Sir 

 William Hamilton, 

 who had a fine garden 

 at Paddington Green, 

 and, in his latter years 

 ( having presumably 

 sown his wild oats), 

 proved a good horti- 

 culturist and successful 

 importer of e.xotics." 

 The success of Mrs. 

 Joseph Marrvafs gar- 

 den at Wimbledon is 

 said to have rivalled 

 that achieved at Kew. 

 It was on the afternoon 

 of March 7th, 1804, 

 when England was in 



the throes of the Great Terror, that John Wedgwood 

 induced Charles Greville, Sir Joseph Banks, and 



