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the University at Upsal . This would actually have been the case , as appears from the exertions made by his Majesty , who , on his return , sent a courier to the Sound , and a swift sailing vessel to intercept the ship which was beariug away the prize .
' In 17 & 6 , he graduated as a physician at Leyden , and in this and the following year visited most of the classical and celebrated places of France and Italy ; publishing , on his return , "A Sketch of a Tour on the Continent , " in 3 vols . 8 vo . ; a work which , at the time , excited much
interest , and which , even now , amid the multiplied volumes of modern tourists , cannot be read without allowing its author ' s qualifications , as a man of real taste and science , to direct the traveller ' s attention , or without admiring the liberal and candid spirit of his remarks on foreign customs aud religious
bpimons . On his return to London , Dr . Smith ( in conjunction with his lately deceased and highly valued friend , Dr . Goodenough , Bishop of Carlisle ) set about establishing the Linnaean Society . Of
this he was the original President ; and , by annual re-election , retained his office to the time of his decease . The first meeting was held April 8 th , 1788 , when a discourse " Ou the Rise and Progress of Natural History" was read by the President . This forms the first article
in the " Transactions of the Linnaean Society / ' a work which has already extended to fifteen quarto volumes . In 1792 , Dr . Smith had the honour of giving some instruction in botany to the Queen and Princesses at Frogmore . As
a lecturer , he was particularly admired for his ease and fluency , and for the happiness of his illustrations , as well as for the extent and variety of his knowledge . This will be testified by all who heard him in London , Norwich , Liverpool , Bristol , &c .
-In 1796 , he married the only daughter of Robert Reeve , Esq , of Lowestoft , in Suffolk ; and , in the year following , Dr . Smith took up his final abode in Norwich , the place of his birth . Seventeen years before he had quitted it for Edinburgh ; and in the pursuit of knowledge , but particularly for his improvement as
a Botanist , he had resided for a time in London ; and had visited the chief cities of France and Italy . In the course of these years he had formed many friendships ; he was known , honoured , and courted by celebrated men of all countries , and of all parties in his own ; and he returned to Norwich full of
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information , rich in fame , and loaded with honorary titles ; besides the substantial possession of his great prize , the Linnsau collection . Yet he came , unspoiled by honours aud nncorrupted by travel , to sit down among the friends of his youth ; willing to give and to receive pleasure from the most attainable and simple objects . Once more he took
his station in the temple where his earliest worship had been paid ; surrounded by those who had joined him in early life : and here he continued to appear , with few interruptions but such as were unavoidable , till within the last Sunday but one preceding his dissolution . It is obvious to remark , that if a residence in London presents more attractions ta a man of science than a residence in a
provincial metropolis , he is often abundantly rewarded for resisting them by the closer friendships which local circumstances permit him to form , and by the delightful consciousness of being the means of improving the tone of society around him . An individual , eminent for knowledge and conciliating in
manners , is , in such a situation , a treasure of inestimable value ; he is the stay and support of his contemporaries , and , to the young , his industry and attainments , his elegant tastes and pure morals are held up as examples of the manner in Which nature rewards those who have
not wasted their hours in sloth , nor frittered away their best powers in dissipation . Such a support and such an impulse the late President of the Linnsean Society assuredly gare by his connexion with Norwich ; and , had his health permitted , they would have been given in a yet greater degree . Many are the individuals who confess their obligations to him , and feel that to have had him a frequetit guest at their father ' s
house , was a blessing they know not sufficiently to prize . He never appeared to be happier than when surrounded by young people , for whom he readily unlocked his cabinet and displayed his mental stores , imparting knowledge in the most familiar and captivating manner . Even in the sports and pastimes of his young guests he took so lively an interest , that they could scarcely believe he was less fond of play than themselves . In all his deeds of kindness he
was fully seconded by one who may with truth be said to have made his chosen friends her own , and . to have strengthened the bonds of amity in which she found him held . To particularize his local friendships , while we have not room to mention his
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348 Obituary . —Sir J . E . Smith .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1828, page 348, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2560/page/60/
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