SIR WILLIAM JACKSON HOOKER. 



911 



four weeks out of the twelve which he passed in the island, and a 

 retentive memory refreshed by a reference to all available works and all 

 documents relating to the revolution, he compiled and printed, for private 

 distribution only, in 1811, an octavo volume of upwards of 400 pages and 

 four plates. Sir Joseph Banks was so pleased with it that he induced 

 my father to reproduce it for publication. The second edition with 

 additions in two volumes, with two maps and four plates, dedicated to Sir 

 Joseph, appeared in 1813, and is to this day a standard work. . . . 



" The years immediately following my father's return from Iceland 

 (1809-12) were the most embarrassing of his life. His unquenchable 

 longing to travel in the tropics was kept alive by Banks's earnest endea- 

 vours to find him a fitting opportunity. On the other hand, his botanical 

 friends were unanimous in urging him to remain at home, publish his 

 Icelandic and Scottish journals, continue his aid to Mr. Turner on the 

 1 Historia Fucorum,' and above all proceed with his 1 British Junger- 

 manniae,' his drawings and analyses of which were of unrivalled beauty, 

 and his contemplated ' Muscologia Britannica.' " 



We next read that Sir William became partner with Mr. Paget (father 

 of the late Sir James Paget) and Mr. Turner in a brewery at Hales worth, 

 but, omitting some detail, may pass on to say that this did not check 

 either his botanical ardour or desire to visit the tropics. " In 1810 he 

 sold his landed property and determined to accept an invitation which 

 Sir Joseph had procured for him, of accompanying Sir Robert Brownrigg, 

 G.C.B., the newly appointed Governor of Ceylon, to that island. ... To 

 his bitter disappointment this opportunity had to be put aside, for 

 disturbances, followed by a rebellion, had broken out in Ceylon that would 

 have rendered travelling in the island impossible." Disappointment 

 still followed, a contemplated visit to Java having had to be put aside. 

 " My father was hence compelled to confine his wanderings to nearer 

 home, adding gardening to his pursuits, and this with some success, for 

 he was the first to flower Catthya labiata in his little stove in 1818, and 

 he also flowered Musa coccinea and other tropical plants. 



" In 1813, owing to the illness of his only brother, my father spent 

 five months with him in Devonshire and Cornwall, which counties he 

 diligently explored for Musci, Hepaticae, and lichens especially. The 

 Trinity House yacht having been placed at his disposal, he visited the 

 Scilly Islands, whence he writes to Mr. Turner : ' The first thing that 

 caught my attention was the situation of the little town of St. Mary's, 

 which so much, resembled that of Reikevik that I could hardly help 

 fancying for some time that I was in Iceland. . . .' Early in 1814 my 

 father accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Turner and family on a visit to Paris, 

 then in the occupation of the Allies. There, at the Institute, he made the 

 acquaintance of the principal botanists resident in or on visits to the city 

 — Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu, Desfontaines, Lamarck, Mirbel, Bory de 

 St. Vincent, Thouin, and others. Leaving the party in Paris, he spent the 

 remainder of the year botanising and seeing botanists, sketching and 

 sight-seeing in the south of France, spending some days with De Candolle 

 at Montpellier and in Piedmont, Switzerland, and Lombardy. Returning 

 to Paris early in 1815, he was introduced to Humboldt, who engaged him 

 to publish a cryptogamic volume of his 'Plantae Equinoctiales.' This 



