LATE WILLIAM CURTIS. XXXi 
«To sum up the total: he was a sincere believer in 
Christianity ; although it is doubted whether he died a 
Quaker. He was a true and faithful husband; an affec- 
tionate and tender father to an only daughter, on whom he 
bestowed a most liberal education, and implanted the best 
principles ; a kind and generous friend, disinterested in the 
extreme, although the want of encouragement drove him 
from the difficult path of true and lasting fame—of that 
fame, which, if a fault, was his only one. Here let the cur- 
tain of our narrative be dropt, and the sympathizing tear 
be shed on those beautiful lines, which are inscribed on the 
tomb-stone of Mr. Curtis, who departed this life, July 7, 
1799, aged about 53 years: 
“ While living herbs shall spring profusely wild, 
Or gardens cherish all that’s blithe and gay, 
So long thy works shall please, dear Nature’s child, 
So long thy mem'ry suffer no decay.” 
The remains of Mr. Curtis were deposited, at his own 
request, in Battersea church-yard, opposite the west en- 
trance of the church; a place selected by him, probably 
from its being a pleasant place, adjoining the Thames, 
and the neighbourhood of frequent scenes of enjoyment 
in herborizing excursions with his pupils; for which the 
weedy fields of Battersea were a peculiarly desirable spot. 
The Botanical Magazine was continued, as before 
stated, by Dr. John Sims up to 1826, and since by Profes- 
sor Hooker, for the benefit of the daughter and grand 
children ; the daughter having married in 1801, Mr. Sa- 
muel Curtis, then a florist at Walworth, and now a very 
extensive cultivator in most branches of horticulture at 
Glazenwood, near Coggeshall, in Essex. And it is with 
extreme regret we have to state, that this amiable lady, who 
possessed, in a great measure, the mind, disposition, and 
