LINTSfEAN SOCIETY OP LONDOK. Ixvii 



of which Sir Eobert was appointed Grovernor. For this purpose 

 he sold his estates, the proceeds of which were invested in busi- 

 ness and foreign securities, which, however, were unfortunately 

 ill chosen, and afterwards much decreased in value. Of the zeal 

 with which he carried on his preparations, we may give as an 

 example the fact that he made pen-and-ink copies of the plates 

 and descriptions of the entire MS. series of Eoxburgh's Indian 

 plants. His arrangements, however, all came to nothing, as the 

 sanguinary disturbances which immediately afterwards took place 

 in Ceylon prevented his plans from being carried out. 



In 1814 he made a botanizing expedition into France, Switzer- 

 land, and the north of Italy, which extended over a period of nine 

 months, and in the course of which he became acquainted at Paris 

 and elsewhere with the principal botanists of Europe,, thus laying 

 the foundation of an extensive intercourse and correspondence 

 which lasted until his death. 



In 1815 he married the eldest daughter of Dawson Turner, of 

 Yarmouth, Esq., and settled at Halesworth, in Suffolk, where his 

 house at once became the rendezvous of British and foreign bota- 

 tanists, and where he commenced the formation of his great her- 

 barium. 



His first botanical work was that on the British JungermannicB, 

 which was completed in 1816. The ' Muscologia Britannica' was 

 published, in conjunction with Dr. Taylor, in 1817, and was fol- 

 lowed by the ' Musci Exotici.' These and other works, added to 

 his increasing home and foreign correspondence, fully occupied 

 his time for the next five years of his life. Meanwhile his pro- 

 perty had been rapidly deteriorating, and, Avith an increasing 

 family, he found it necessary to look out for some remunerative 

 scientific employment. He was therefore advised by his friend 

 Sir Joseph Banks to accept the then vacant Eegius Professorship 

 of Botany in the University of Glasgow, which, although not a 

 medical man. Sir Joseph was able to procure for him ; and in 1820 

 he accordingly removed to Grlasgow, where his life was entirely 

 devoted to botany: he rose early and went late to bed, visited 

 but little, avoiding society except on his occasional journeys to 

 England, and devoted the whole powers of his mind and his 

 pencil to his favourite science. He was a most popular lecturer, 

 his class being sometimes attended by as many volunteers as me- 

 dical men. He encouraged his students in the pursuit, by taking 

 them on excursions, by giving them rare plants from his dupli- 

 cates, and by furnishing them with letters of introduction to all 



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