EARLY YEARS 7 



recorded of it, Chelsea must have been a very charming 

 suburb. All these things suggest a happy combination 

 of circumstances ; under which young Banks was able 

 to indulge in his favourite pursuits without losing any 

 social advantages. 



A story is related of Banks which perhaps belongs to 

 this period. He was out one day searching for plants, 

 on the bank of a ditch near Hounslow. A gentleman in 

 a post-chaise had just been robbed by a highwayman. 

 After the latter had decamped, the traveller proposed to 

 his driver that he should take the horses out of the 

 carriage and go in pursuit of the villain. They had not 

 gone far when they saw Mr. Banks under a hedge search- 

 ing for a plant, with the bridle of his horse upon his arm* 

 The post-boy called out, " Here he is ! " Banks was 

 forthwith conveyed, in spite of protestations, to Bow 

 Street, and charged before Sir John Fielding with the 

 robbery. The business ended with apologies and regrets, 

 as soon as the prisoner had satisfied the magistrate as to 

 his identity. 



Banks presently departed for Oxford. From the time 

 he entered his college, it became clear that Fate had 

 determined for him a career far removed from the tradi- 

 tional ambitions of the University. Scholarship did not 

 attract him. Nor did he, although a social favourite, 

 yield to the fascinations of any set of mere pleasure- 

 loving undergraduates. He found a professorship of 

 Botany in existence. All other considerations yielded 

 to this ; and he at once made personal advances to the 

 holder. 



This was Dr. Humphrey Sibthorp, of whom it was said 

 that he only gave one lecture in the course of thirty-five 

 years. He was father of John Sibthorp, a man who came 

 to higher distinction in botanical science, travelled widely 

 in search of plants, and was one of the founders of the 

 Linnean Society. Forthwith went our young enthusiast 



