300 THE LIFE OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 



vieillard, alors perclus par les suite de la goutte, se 

 faisait rouler dans une fauteuil jusqu'a Tune des salles de 

 son Herbier, ou les habitues venaient causer avec lui. 

 J'e*tais malheureusement mal place sur ce rapport, par 

 mon ignorance de 1'Anglais. M. Banks ne parlait pas 

 francais, de sorte que nous e*tions reduits a nous dire 

 quelques mots isoles, ou a nous servir d'interpr6tes. 

 Malgre* cette contrariete, je puis dire que j'etais assez 

 bien avec lui. II m 'in vita a sa jolie campagne de Spring 

 Grove, a ses soirees du Dimanche. ... II mit son Herbier 

 et sa bibliotheque a ma disposition. . . . Je venais 

 chaque matin travailler de dix a quatre heures, et outre 

 les ressources immenses que me presentait ce musee 

 botanique, j'en profitai beaucoup pour connaitre les 

 botanistes anglais qui s'y rencontraient frdquemment." 



To complete this picture, it should be mentioned that 

 Robert Brown was the rival of De Candolle as " the 

 first botanist of Europe." They were very happy together 

 in Banks 's house. 



Humphry Davy was one of the new generation which 

 clustered round Banks in his later years. He was often 

 to be seen in association with the President, who had been 

 one of the first to detect Davy's signal merit. He made 

 his appearance as a lecturer at the Royal Institution at 

 a very early date, and doubtless contributed to the 

 success of that body. 



Davy left behind him a notice of Banks, very freely 

 drawn : not ill-naturedly, but alluding to certain defects 

 which others had noticed with some disposition to 

 caricature. " He was a good-humoured and liberal 

 man, free and various in conversational power, a tolerable 

 botanist, and generally acquainted with Natural History. 

 He had not much reading, and no profound information. 

 He was always ready to promote the objects of men of 



