104 A. Gray—Memorial of George Bentham. 
two in Sweden gave opportunity for learning enough of Swed- 
ish to converse in that language and to read it with tolerable 
ease in after life. Returning to England the family settled at 
Hampstead, and the children pursued their studies under pri- 
vate tutors. In the years 1812-13, during the excitement pro- 
duced by the French invasion of Russia and the burning of 
Moscow, our young polyglot “ budded into an author, by trans- 
lating (along with his brother and sister) and contributing to 4 
ondon magazine a series of articles from the Russian news- 
papers, detailing the operations of the armies.” In 1814, upon 
the downfall of Napoleon, the Bentham family crossed over to 
France, prepared for a long stay, remained in the country (at 
Tours, Saumur, and Paris) during the hundred days preced- 
ing Napoleon’s final overthrow; and in 1816 Sir Samuel Ben- 
tham set out upon a prolonged and singular family tour, en 
caravane, througk the western and southern departments of 
France. To quote from the published account from which 
most of these biographical details are drawn, and which were 
taken from Mr. Bentham’s own memoranda :* 
“The cortége consisted of a two-horse coach fitted up as 4 
sleeping apartment; a long, low, two-wheeled, one-horse a 
van for Geh. and Mrs. Bentham, furnished with a library an 
piano; and another, also furnished; for his daughters and their — 
governess. The plan followed was to travel by day from one — 
place of interest to another, bivouacking at night by the road, — 
or in the garden of a friend, or in the precincts of the prefect- 
ures, to which latter he had credentials from the authorities 0 
the capital. In this way he visited Orleans, Tours, Angou- 
léme, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Montpellier, and finally Montauban, 
where a lengthened stay was ste in acountry house hired for — 
the purpose. From Montauban (the cortége having broken — 
down in some way) they proceeded still by private convey- 
ances to Carcassone, Narbonnes, Nimes, Tarascon, Marseilles, 
éres. 
was struck with the methodical analytical tables, and he pro- . 
ceeded immediately to apply them to the first plant he could : 
* An article in Nature, October 2, 1884, by Sir Joseph Dawson Hooker. 
