XXXU PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



death ! But so excellent a man, prepared for death by the strict per- 

 formance of every christian duty during life,- requires not the com- 

 miseration of those who survive him ; although all who recollect his 

 air of gravity and of sincerity, which always made his words effective 

 in commanding attention and respect, and in bringing home convic- 

 tion to the minds of his hearers, must feel how heavy a loss we have 

 experienced. 



The next person whom I shall notice, though unquestionably not 

 possessed of the same extensive range of intellectual acquirements as 

 the illustrious individual of whom I have just spoken, was yet a most 

 active, intelligent, and valuable member of our Society. Me. Joshua 

 Trimmer was the eldest son of Joshua Kirby Trimmer (who was the 

 eldest son of Mrs. Trimmer the well-known authoress), and was born 

 at North Cray in Kent, on the 11th of July, 1795. When he was 

 about four years old his parents removed to Brentford, Middlesex, 

 in order to be near the authoress, who resided in that parish. Under 

 the roof of that venerable and widowed relative, much of the early 

 childhood of the subject of this memoir was passed. The attention 

 of the authoress was first particularly drawn to this grandchild by 

 accidentally hearing him explain to a younger member of his family, 

 rules of christian conduct to be observed through life — rules which, 

 being entirely approved of by Mrs. Trimmer, were scrupulously fol- 

 lowed out by himself in his own life. His docile disposition and 

 inquiring mind gained her especial notice and affection, and he was 

 held up by her to her various juvenile descendants as one whom they 

 would do well to endeavour to resemble. It was indeed recorded of 

 him, in the published life of Mrs. Trimmer, " that Sunday was to 

 him a day of perfect felicity; and whether he sat with his book 

 under a tree, or examined with his venerable grandmother the beau- 

 ties of the plants and flowers, his countenance shone with delight ; 

 and in the winter, when such pleasures could not be recurred to, the 

 day was still one of enjoyment, and never wearied him." 



His taste for the science of geology was innate : his aged mother, 

 who survives to mourn his loss, well remembers that at a very 

 early age, when he used to accompany her and the authoress in 

 their walks, his chief delight was to ramble to the side of a river or 

 of a canal in search of shells, which he would bring to the authoress 

 that she might name them; and frequently when at home he 

 would invite his mother's attention to the organic formations on 

 oyster- shells, expressing the strongest desire to learn their natural 

 history. Though the favourite study of his life appears to have ori- 

 ginated with himself, his daily converse with the venerable Mrs. 

 Trimmer, who was emphatically " the child's friend," confirmed his 

 early tastes, and assisted in training his mind for that keen observa- 

 tion and searching inquiry which so characterized his subsequent 

 geological pursuits ; and it is worthy of remark, that these two rela- 

 tives in their separate writings, directed as they were to widely dif- 

 ferent subjects, arrived at the same inductive conclusion with refer- 

 ence to eternal truth. The authoress, in a little publication entitled 



