XXX 



their results. To young botanists he was especially kind and helpful ; 

 indeed there are few cultivators of this science in Europe or America who 

 have not borne cordial testimony to his generosity and encouragement. 

 Amongst his latest efforts has been the inducing of the Home and Colonial 

 Governments to grant the necessary funds for the publication of the Floras 

 of their possessions ; and within the two last years of his life he prevailed 

 upon Sir Charles Wood, the President of the Indian Board, in like manner 

 to support the publication of the Flora of British India ; while, through 

 the influence of his steady friend Earl B-ussell, he has also procured a grant 

 for the publication of the Flora of tropical Africa. 



Sir William was in person tall, athletic, and active ; in features remark- 

 ably good-looking, animated, and cheerful ; his conversation had the charm 

 of intellectual cultivation and refinement, and he had a ready power of 

 conveying clear information. As a scientific correspondent he was unri- 

 valled ; promptly answering every letter with his own hand ; encouraging 

 those who first addressed him, and stimulating those who flagged. Indeed 

 he was wont to attribute his success in the creation of the National Gardens 

 and the accompanying Museums to his habit of thanking every contributor 

 at once, answering all their questions at whatever trouble, naming the 

 plants they sent, and applying personally to residents in every part of the 

 world for such plants or their products as he desired to have in the Gar- 

 dens. 



He was an LL.D. of Glasgow, D.C.L. of Oxford ; a Fellow of the Royal 

 Societies of London and Edinburgh, the Linnean, Antiquarian, Geogra- 

 phical, and other Societies ; a Knight of Hanover, Companion of the 

 Legion of Honour, a Correspondent of the Academy of France, and a 

 member of almost every other learned Academy in Europe and America. 

 The date of his election into the Royal Society was January 9, 1812. 



He died at Kew on the 12th of August, 1865, in the 81st year of his age, 

 after a very short illness, of a complaint in the throat, then epidemic at 

 that place. 



He leaves a widow, two married daughters, and one son. Dr. Joseph 

 Dalton Hooker, F.R.S., now Director of the Royal Gardens. 



John Lindley was the son of a nurseryman of considerable ability, 

 who was the author of a manual of horticulture. He was born at Catton, 

 near Norwich, on the 5th of February, 1799, and was educated at the 

 Grammar School of Norwich under Dr. Valpy. He left school at the age 

 of sixteen, and was employed for three or four years in his father's nursery, 

 devoting all his leisure time to the study of botany and horticulture with 

 that remarkable energy and untiring perseverance which characterized his 

 whole life. His father failing in business shortly before he came of age, 

 young Lindley was thrown on his own resources, not only for his own sup- 

 port, but for the discharge of his father's debts, which he took upon him- 

 self. Proceeding to London in 1810, he obtained from Sir Joseph Banks 



