230 Notice of the late Mr, George Caley^ 



With hearty goodwill did the present writer surrender his 

 elementary works, both in the Latin and French languages, 

 for the benefit of the youthful adventurer, and they were 

 quickly forwarded according to his instructions. 



But, alas ! the ardent imagination of our aspirant had well- 

 nigh outstripped all reasonable expectation ; and a series of 

 remonstrances with the President of the Royal Society, some- 

 what injudiciously, not to say intemperately, urged, for a sea- 

 son blasted his high-flown hopes. He, whose delight was 



" To wander as free as the wind on the mountains," 



could ill brook, even for a limited period, the confinement of 

 stated hours, or the restraint of garden walls. After having 

 vainly endeavoured to convince Sir Joseph that he needed no 

 such initiatory course, and that he was already qualified for 

 the projected expedition, he withdrew in disgust, again to 

 ruminate on his wayward fate amid the wilds of Lancashire. 



Now, that talent of every kind is likely to be forced and 

 fostered, perhaps, as some may apprehend, to an extreme 

 degree, let those whose warm temperaments glow with the 

 laudable desire to excel, beware of yielding to that seductive 

 self-sufficiency which is but too apt to resist the wiser counsels 

 of experience, and thus, in innumerable instances, to make 

 wreck of the brightest expectations. 



And such disappointment would, probably, have prema- 

 turely terminated the career of Caley's usefulness, but that he 

 was so fortunate as to have engaged the attention of a patron 

 not less habituated to detect merit, even through a rough 

 exterior, than to exercise thereon a characteristic generosity 

 and benevolence. 



After an alienation, happily of no long continuance, Caley 

 once more thought proper to address Sir Joseph, in terms 

 which drew forth the reply here inserted, and which, I am 

 confident, will be considered as a notable instance of amiable 

 condescension, of honest and well timed rebuke : — 



" Soho Square^ July 16. 1798. 



" Mr. Caley, — Whoever told you that I said I was angry 

 with you has been mistaken. I am sure I never said so, be- 

 cause I never felt myself angry with you. 



" I told you, when I first wrote to you, that unless you 

 would gain your livelihood as a gardener, while you made 

 yourself acquainted with the plants cultivated in the gardens 

 here, I did not mean to get employment for you as a botanical 

 traveller. By so doing, I put you in the same situation as 

 Alton, Lee, Dickson, and Mason were in, when they were of 



