xxiv BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 



county. At the age of nine he was sent to Harrow, and 

 four years later was transferred to Eton, where he displayed 

 an extreme aversion from study, especially of Greek and 

 Latin, and an inordinate love of all kinds of energetic 

 sports. It was while he was here that he was first attracted 

 to the study of botany, and having no better instructor he 

 paid some women " cullers of simples," as Sir Joseph him- 

 self afterwards called them who were employed in gather- 

 ing plants, for which he paid them sixpence for each article 

 they collected and brought to him. During his holidays he 

 found on his mother's dressing-table an old torn copy of 

 Gerard's Herbal, having the names and figures of some of 

 the plants with which he had formed an imperfect acquaint- 

 ance ; and he carried it back with him to school. "While at 

 Eton he made considerable collections of plants and insects. 

 He also made many excursions in company with the father of 

 the great Lord Brougham, who describes him as a fine-looking, 

 strong, and healthy boy, whom no fatigue could subdue, and 

 no peril daunt. 



He left Eton when seventeen to be inoculated for the 

 small-pox, and on his recovery he went up to Oxford, entering 

 as a gentleman commoner at Christ Church. Prior to this, 

 however, after his father's death in 1761, he had resided 

 with his mother at Chelsea, where he had availed himself 

 of the then famous botanical garden of the Apothecaries' 

 Company. He found himself unable to get any teaching in 

 botany at Oxford, but obtaining leave, he proceeded to Cam- 

 bridge and returned with Israel Lyons, 1 the astronomer and 

 botanist, under whom a class was formed. In December 

 1763 he left Oxford with an honorary degree, and coming 

 of age in the year following, found himself possessed of an 

 ample fortune, which enabled him to devote himself entirely 

 to the study of natural science. At this time also he 

 formed a friendship with Lord Sandwich, a neighbouring 

 landowner, both being devoted to hunting and other field 

 sports. The two are credited with having formed a project 



1 Afterwards calculator for the Nautical Almanac, and, owing to the in- 

 fluence of Banks, astronomer to Captain Phipps' Polar Voyage in 1773. 



