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Natural History, which he never lost, although the occupations and 

 labours of his subsequent life never allowed of his acquiring a pro- 

 found knowledge of any branch of that science. The only work he 

 ever published on natural history was ' A Familiar History of Bri- 

 tish Birds/ which was intended for young persons. It is written in 

 a pleasing and interesting style, and evinces much of that kindness 

 of disposition for which its author was so much esteemed. 



He was many years President of the Linnsean Society, and always 

 evinced great interest in the welfare of that Society, as well as of the 

 British Association, to which he was attached from its commence- 

 ment. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1840. 



The incessant labour and excitement, both of mind and body, 

 which had been for some time making secret inroads on his health, 

 at length occasioned him to seek change and comparative repose in 

 a visit to Scotland ; but he was seized there with congestion of the 

 brain, and died at Brahan Castle, near Dingwall, on the 8th of Sep- 

 tember last. 



The Right Honourable Sir Alexander Johnston of CarnsoUoch, 

 in the county of Dumfries, was distinguished by a long and glorious 

 career of the most philanthropic and beneficial labours for the ame- 

 lioration of the natives of Ceylon and of the continent of India. His 

 early life was marked by many romantic incidents, and his educa- 

 tion in the East was carried on under such a concurrence of circum- 

 stances of the most unusual and remarkable kind, as have perhaps 

 scarcely been paralleled, and all tending in a most remarkable man- 

 ner to fit him for that career, to which circumstances apparently for- 

 tuitous afterwards conducted him. In his fifth year he had acquired a 

 knowledge of the French language, having been with his parents in 

 France from his infancy ; and he accompanied them to India, whither 

 his father went in a high official appointment under Lord Macartney, 

 then going out Governor of Madras ; and it is remarkable that in 

 that country he should have received the different branches of his 

 education from men who afterwards became themselves distin- 

 guished, and who from family attachment were ready to supply the 

 want of regular school instruction to their young friend — such were 

 Sir Thomas Munro, General Leitli, Colonel Mackenzie, and Schwartz. 

 His early association with distinguished natives, and his father's 

 anxiety to render his constitution strong and enduring, led to so 

 extraordinary a proficiency in every kind of manly and athletic ex- 

 ercise, that he was offered a cornetcy in Sir Henry Floyd's regiment 

 of light dragoons, in his eleventh year. His mathematical studies, 

 in which he became a proficient, were aided by his mother, herself 

 a daughter of Lord Napier of Merchistoun, and a worthy descendant 

 of the famous inventor of logarithms. 



On his return with his parents to England he pursued the study 

 of the law, and having afterwards been called to the bar, went the 

 home circuit for a short time. 



Circumstances however were preparing for him a change in his 

 destiny, for which he was admirably suited, and in 1 802 he accepted 



