150 Miscellanecms. 



quaintance of Gainsborough, and frequently his adviser ; and such 

 was Gainsborough's regard for his friend, that he made a special re- 

 quest in his will that he might be buried by his side — a desire which 

 was carried into eifect. This Joshua Kirby afterwards became a great 

 favourite \yitli His Majesty George II., and received through his pa- 

 tronage the office of comptroller of the works at Kew. Mrs. Trim- 

 mer was his daughter, and consequently first cousin to the subject of 

 this memoir. 



" Mr. Kirby was born in the year 1759*, at Witnesham Hall, in 

 the county of Suffolk, the residence of his father, who was by pro- 

 fession a solicitor ; he was educated at the grammar school in Ipswich, 

 whence he removed, in his 17th year, to Caius College, Cambridge. 

 Here he pursued his studies with diligence, and laid so good a foun- 

 dation, that he subsequently earned the reputation of being a sound 

 and accurate scholar. In the year 1781 he took the degree of B.A. ; 

 in the year 1 782 he was admitted into holy orders, having been no- 

 minated by the Rev. Nicholas Bacon to the joint curacies of Barham 

 and Coddenham. By his exemplary conduct in the discharge of his 

 parochial duties, he so gained the esteem of Mr. Bacon, that he left 

 him by his will the next presentation to the rectory of Barham ; to 

 this he was inducted in the year 1796, so that for sixty-eight years 

 he exercised his ministry in the same charge, residing also in the 

 same parsonage-house. Always of an observant turn of mind (having 

 at an early period evinced a great fondness for natural science), he 

 had not been long resident at Barham before his attention was called 

 to the habits of various insects which he met with in his daily walks. 

 He was encouraged by some friend to pursue this study, as one open- 

 ing before him a wide and extensive field of research ; the fact of there 

 being but few beaten paths did not prevent his entering upon it, and 

 from this time the study of the insect world became his constant 

 source of recreation and amusement. 



" In contemplating the character of this man of piety. Christians 

 may rejoice and thank God for his example ; science, too, may re- 

 joice and point in triumph to his name, standing forth, as it does, to 

 the world, as that of a true philosopher, who was permitted for a 

 long series of years to afford an example of a man, whose faith was 

 not only undisturbed and unshaken by investigation of the intricate 

 mechanism of the wonders of nature, but who^e humility was deep- 

 ened as his knowledge increased ; whose admiration and praise were 

 heightened by contemplating the wonders he discovered ; whose gra- 

 titude and hope were enlarged at the signs of goodness and of mercy 

 which he traced. 



" Of the many virtues which adorned his private life we forbear to 

 speak ; at the same time there is one which stands so prominently 

 forth, and which has been so severely tested in his intercourse with 

 the world, that we must not omit to notice it. We allude to that real 



* Our information states that Mr. Kirby was baptized at Witnesham, 

 Sept. 19th, 1758. His mother was Lucy, daughter of Mr. Daniel Meadows 

 of the same parish. 



