340 SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 



delighted to find in his mother's dressing-room an old 

 torn copy of Gerard's Herbal, having the names and 

 figures of the plants, with which he had formed an 

 imperfect acquaintance, and he carried it with him back 

 to school. There he continued his collection of plants, 

 and he also made one of butterflies and other insects. I 

 have often heard rnj father say, that being of the same 

 age, they used to associate much together. Both were 

 fond of walking and of swimming, and both were expert 

 in the latter exercise. Banks always distinguished him, 

 and in his old age he never ceased to show me every 

 kindness in his power, in consequence of this old con- 

 nexion. My father described him as a remarkably fine-look- 

 ing, strong, and active boy, whom no fatigue could subdue, 

 and no peril daunt; and his whole time out of school was 

 given up to hunting after plants and insects, making a 

 hortus siccus of the one, and forming a cabinet of the 

 other. As often as Banks could induce him to quit his 

 task in reading or in verse -making, he would take him on 

 his long rambles ; and I suppose it was from this early 

 taste that we had at Brougham so many butterflies, 

 beetles, and other insects, as well as a cabinet of shells 

 and fossils. The interesting anecdote related by Sir E. 

 Home, I never heard my father relate, but he always said 

 that his friend Joe cared mighty little for his book, and 

 could not well understand any one taking to Greek and 

 Latin. The anecdote itself must be perfectly authentic 

 if Sir E. Home heard it from him ; for he was scrupulously 

 exact in relating facts, and anything like romance about 

 natural scenery was the thing in the world the most alien 

 from the cast of his mind. 



In 1760 he was taken from Eton to be inoculated, 

 and the operation failed : it was repeated, and succeeded ; 



