LISTNEAJSr SOCIETY OP LONDON. Ixxxi 



cordially subscribed to by aU botanists, when be says that " his 

 (Dr. Moutagne's) decease reminds us forcibly of the fact that the 

 scientific world has sustained a loss which is not likely to be 

 repaired very speedily. Intimate as he was with almost every 

 branch of Cryptogamic Botany, his pen and pencil were ever 

 ready to record the novelties which were pouring into Paris from 

 every quarter ; and his extensive correspondence and valuable her- 

 barium gave a precision to his diagnoses which can scarcely be too 

 highly appreciated." 



Dr. Montague's attention was not confined to botany ; for he 

 appears to have been a scholar of no mean acquirements, and to 

 have been distinguished also for his musical attainments. In pri- 

 vate life he was universally respected for his kindliness and 

 hospitality, and for his genial and entertaining qualities. 



He was elected a Foreign Fellow of the Linnean Society on the 

 2nd of May, 1854 ; and died at Paris on the 9th of January, 1866, 

 at the age of eighty-two. 



Sir Joseph Paxton, M.P., F.B.S., was born in the year 1801, 

 at the village of Milton Bryant in Bedfordshire, where his father 

 was a farmer. Having to work for his livelihood, he selected 

 gardening as his profession, and at the age of 1 5 entered the ser- 

 vice of Sir Gregory Osborne Page Turner, of Battlesden Park, 

 whence, at the end of two years, he went to "WoodhaU Park, near 

 Watton, Herts, the residence of Samuel Smith, Esq., in whose 

 gardens, then under the charge of Mr. William Griffin, an emi- 

 nent horticulturist of his day, he continued for three years, and 

 was thus enabled to acquire a thorough practical knowledge of 

 the most important branches of horticulture. On leaving Wood- 

 hall he returned to Battlesden, where he filled the post of gar- 

 dener for two years, and in the autumn of 1823, being then 22, 

 he came to London, and was employed in the garden of the Duke 

 of Somerset at Wimbledon. About this time the Horticultural 

 Society commenced the formation of their garden at Chiswick ; 

 and the opportunity for study and improvement in his profession 

 thus afibrded was eagerly seized upon by young Paxton, who, 

 upon the recommendation of Mr, Sabine, the Honorary Secretary 

 of the Society, was admitted into the new gardens in 1823, and 

 in the following year appointed foreman of the Arboretum. In 

 this capacity he was fortunate enough to attract the notice of the 

 late Duke of Devonshire, who took great interest in this depart- 

 ment of the garden, and had frequent occasion to apply to the 

 foreman for information respecting such trees and shrubs as were 



liTNN. PEOC. — Session 1865-66. / 



