George Bentham , F.R.S . xiii 
Labedoyere, the condition of the city of Paris, and to Walter 
Savage Landor, who was intimate with the family. Even 
at this age he could take his part in the society of the 
leaders of the Paris Salons in literature and science, making 
the acquaintance of the Due de Richelieu, Talleyrand, Dumas, 
Jean Baptiste Say, the aged Madame Andelau (daughter of 
Helvetius), and Alexander Humboldt. Of these the latter 
took an especial interest in him, encouraging him in the 
prosecution of a work he had begun on the data of physical 
geography, by advice and by procuring him introductions 
to libraries and to individuals who could aid him. Unfor- 
tunately this projected work was not continued. 
In 1816 Sir Samuel Bentham organized at Paris a caravan- 
tour in France for himself and family. The caravan consisted 
of a two-horse coach fitted up as a sleeping- room, a one-horse 
spring van furnished with a library and piano, for himself 
and Mrs. Bentham, and another for his daughters and their 
governess. Thus equipped they travelled by day, visiting 
friends and places of interest, bivouacking by night in gipsy 
fashion in the gardens of friends, or in the precincts of the 
prefectures, to which he brought credentials from Paris. 
In this way he visited Orleans, Tours, Angouleme, Bordeaux, 
Toulouse, Montpellier, and finally Montauban, where the 
caravan having broken down, the tour was continued by 
ordinary conveyances to Carcassonne, Narbonne, Nimes, 
Tarascon, Marseilles, Toulon, and Hyeres. 
The most interesting incident of this tour occurred at 
Angouleme, for there G. Bentham’s attention was first directed 
to botany. His mother, who was fond of plants, and a friend 
of Aiton of Kew, had purchased a copy of De Candolle’s 
just then issued ‘Flore Fran£aise.’ Young Bentham acci- 
dentally taking it up was interested in the analytical tables 
for determining the affinities and names of the plants 
described, which fitted in with the ideas he had derived 
from his uncle Jeremy’s works, when constructing his own 
geographical tables. He at once went into the yard of the 
house, gathered the first plant he found, and after spending 
