802 
ment, the gift of a valuable diamond ring 
being added to the discharge of his ac- 
count. The following summer he revisited 
St. Petersburgh, Mr. Fraser's claims to 
remuneration on account of his not being 
continued in the situation that His late 
Imperial Majesty had given him, being 
urged for reconsideration by the highest au- 
thorities; Lord Whitworth, Ex-Ambassa- 
dor to the Russian Court, the President of 
the Linnean Society, and several of the 
most eminent scientific characters attach- 
ing their signatures, and he was further 
aided by the official interference of the 
British Minister in Russia, Sir Borlase 
Warren. 
Another summer and winter passed away 
in various solicitations for a decision on 
his claims, until the severity of the Rus- 
sian climate, added to mental anxieties 
from suspense and disappointment, laid 
him for several months on the bed of sick- 
ness, when worn out beyond patient en- 
durance, his necessities compelled him to 
accept a remuneration little proportioned 
to the services he had performed, and the 
heavy expenses he had incurred, independ- 
ent of the loss of his valuable time. 
In the hope of bettering his circum- 
stances, the subject of this sketch under- 
took, in 1807, accompanied by his son 
John, another long and perilous journey, 
amongst the woods and wilds of North 
America. The American embargo having 
for some time interrupted the communica- 
tion with England, young Fraser, immedi- 
ately on its removal, proceeded home with 
the collections, leaving his father to return 
the following season, with the additional 
result of his labours: the intervening time 
was devoted by the latter to travelling 
among the mountains and in the western 
states, and he also made a second visit to 
the island of Cuba, and in the Spring of 
1810 arrived in England, enriched with 
various new productions, A short while, 
however, previously to his embarkation for 
Europe, when returning down from the 
mountains to Charleston, in South Caro- 
lina, his horse fell with him, and he unfor- 
tunately fractured several of his ribs, the 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN FRASER. 
distance from surgical aid aggravating his E 
consequent sufferings. His vigorous con- - 
stitution was greatly impaired when he - 
reached London in the spring of 1810; - 
and for several months he was wholly con- _ 
fined to his bed, until in the month of April 1 
1811, his bodily disease being aggravated 
by the undeserved disappointments of his 
latter days, death deprived his two sons, 
John and James Thomas Fraser, of a pa- 
rent, who was justly endeared to them by 
the ties of reciprocal affection, as well as 
by the perils and the pleasures in which, 
during long and remote journeys, for many 
years, they had-mutually shared. i 
In disposition of mind, Mr. Fraser was 
remarkably frank and generous, caring s0 —— 
little about the pecuniary gains of his pro- | 
fessional labours, that he frequently sacri- — 
ficed all these considerations to his zeal for 
investigation, allowing the cultivators of 
his new discoveries to appropriate to them- 
selves all the advantages that were his just 
due. The nurserymen and growers of 
American plants speak gratefully of him 
as their greatest benefactor, to whom they - | 
are indebted for such a variety of novel a 
and beautiful plants as have richly repaid 
the skill exercised in their culture. ; 
It unfortunately happened, that almost 
at the commencement of Mr. Fraser's ca- 
reer, he incurred the disapprobation of that 
Nestor of Science, the late Sir Joseph 
Banks, and as his spirit was too independ- 
ent to allow of his doing any thing which 
resembled acting a courtier's part, 80 this 
slight misunderstanding might never y 
been removed, if (to the honour of ; 
Joseph Banks be it spoken) the superior 
individual had not unexpectedly vis! 
Mr. Fraser shortly before his decease and 
during the short interview which he 3 
quested, extended to him the hand m 
friendship, addressing the sufferer m > 
kindly terms as proved a temporary co by 
and were most gratefully acknowledged 
the dying man. 
Mr. Fraser, during his 
island of Cuba, had noticed a remat" 
species of the Palm Tribe, the leaves 
which, by a peculiar process, were pe 
j 
first visit to the - 
d 
