678 
PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. 
manuscript for each of these works was written in Norwich. 
Nearly the. whole of the 3,405 botanical and biographical 
articles which he wrote for Rees’ “ Cyclopaedia ” must have 
been Norwich work, also the “ Grammar of Botany ” (1821), 
and many of the 52 papers that he published in the Transactions 
of the Linnean Society.* 
Lady Smith thus describes his method of writing : — “ He 
seldom wrote anything more than once, and his manuscript was 
sent to the press as it came from his hand, without any material 
correction or interlineation, in a distinct legible character, that 
appeared more like a corrected copy than a rough draft. 
When pressed for time, he frequently wrote most to his own 
satisfaction. Such was the case with his prefaces and dedica- 
tions ; always delayed till the volume was near its completion, 
and then hurried by his printer, he generally sat down after 
tea, and would fairly write what was wanted, without pre- 
meditation or doubt about its plan, as he would have written a 
letter.” 6 
In Norwich, specimens of Sir James Smith’s handwriting 
may be seen: — (a) At the Norfolk and Norwich Library 
(Guildhall Hill), where a copy of the Fifth Edition of “An 
Introduction to Physiological and Systematical Botany ” is 
inscribed: “ Presented to the Norfolk and Norwich Literary 
Institution by the Author, April 28th, 1825 ” ; (b) at the same 
Library a short note in his handwriting has been inserted in 
“ English Botany,” vol. 18, t. 1410, attested by Mr. Simon 
Wilkin, the first librarian of the Literary Institution ; (c) the 
copy of “ English Flora,” ed. i., now in Norwich Public 
Library, was presented by the Author to P. M. Martineau, esqre., 
of Bracondale House, and vol. iii. contains Sir James Smith’s 
autograph. The “English Flora” is particularly associated 
with his Norwich home, for we have it on Lady Smith’s 
authority that the last sheet of the fourth volume was received 
from his printer on the very day on which his fatal illness 
began — he was out for a walk on the Saturday, and died two 
* This is by no means a complete list of Sir J. E. Smith’s Norwich work, but the 
books mentioned were exhibited during the reading of this address. 
