328 THE LIFE OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 



well-proportioned. The best idea that can be gained of 

 him is through the portrait by Lawrence, to be seen in the 

 Trustees' Room at the British Museum. 1 " In his earlier 

 days, Sir Joseph exhibited a manly form, with a counte- 

 nance that betokened intelligence, and an eye that 

 gleamed with kindness. His manners were courteous, 

 and his conversation was replete with instruction." 2 



Suttor, the botanical collector, who published at 

 Paramatta a short notice of Sir Joseph, describes him 

 as " always affable and kind ; of a very pleasing counte- 

 nance, highly intellectual, a manly deportment, but very 

 little of the fine gentleman or the courtier ; a kind 

 master ; and a steady friend to high and low, rich and 

 poor ... a cheerful and buoyant disposition, with 

 presence of mind and courage in distress." Alluding to 

 the doggerel of Peter Pindar, who could not possibly 

 spare so prominent a personage as Banks, Suttor re- 

 marks : " like his gracious Sovereign, he laughed at the 

 witty though virulent poet, and never caught a butterfly 

 the less." 



Banks naturally became the object of numerous carica- 

 tures. But, as Cuvier says in allusion to this matter : 

 " Le seul remede applicable a de pareilles piqures etait 

 d'en rire. Ce fut celui qu'il employa." When Captain 

 Marryat was proposed to the Royal Society, some one 

 feared that his skits on Banks would be unfavourable to 

 his candidature. This was foolish. And coming to 

 Banks's ears he let it be understood that he admired 

 the drawings and purposely kept them on his table. " I 

 wouldn't be without them for the world," he said. 3 



One more " Impression " may be given, written by 

 one of his scientific friends, in the Philosophical Magazine : 

 " Sir Joseph in person was tall and manly, and his counte- 



1 v. Frontispiece. 



2 Faulkner : History of Chelsea, II, 190. This writer mentions a 

 portrait by Garrard, which has " an extraordinary degree of fidelity." 



3 Marryat's Life, by his daughter, I, 81. 



