97 
THOMAS RICHARD ARCHER BRIGGS. 
(Wrrn Porrrarr.) 
‘* THERE is no one who knew him with any degree of intimacy 
who does not feel that he has lost a personal friend, and that the 
world is the poorer au the death of Thomas pra Are her Briggs. 
is humility, his single-heartedness, his great gentleness, his 
patient Sesdtiies' rand his quiet influence a potent factor in every 
cirele in which he moved.” Such are the opening sentences of : 
bri i notice which gt apr in a weekly paper * 
published at Plymouth on January 31st. It is the Christian 
‘gentleman and the good citizen ihbes loss is there deplored ; but 
very many—perhaps most—of the readers of this Journal will 
surely feel instinctively how true to the life must be this estimate 
of the man who was ede o the majority of them only by his 
botanical writings. The whose happy lot it was to enjoy his 
friendship cannot but be ak ve pained at his sudden removal, nor 
fai s him grievously many a day. His powers - critical 
sipsartiprnihs were so ee ese at once so acute a o dis- 
seemed always impossible. And hi es to help was so 
unmistakeable, Soon learned to trust him whenever he 
ined to give a positive opinion, the patience 
bene which he 1 er a to el and wait for light hus | 
‘He was oa on the 7th of May, 1836, at Fursdon, in the parish 
of Egg Buckland, near Plymouth. His parents were second-cousins, 
and his maternal eg re Major R. Julian, of Estover, had 
served in the American War o See aay and was present with 
his regiment at Lexington and Bunker's Hill. Mr. aaa was an 
sent “that home. Even as a day er his attendance at school was 
made irregular by his walkie of chest. It was not till about 
1851 that te seems to have shown any special fondness for natural 
objects. At that time his cousin, the Rev. R. A. Julian, an 
enthusiastic naturalist, then at Cambridge University, was con- 
tributing s eins papers to the Naturalist on local Ornithology and 
Botany; and the sight of these seems to have suggested © a 
future botanist the idea of keeping a record of his own observa 
For some years these notes were confined almost octal) 4 to 
Ornithology and Entomology, and it was not until 1858 and 1859” 
that they wore a decided botanical complexion. 
* The Church in the West. 
Jougna or Borany.—Vow. 29. (Apri, 1891.] H 
