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more extended connexions , would hardly be doing justice to the subject of this memoir . Yet to none of the claims of society did he pay more willing attention than to those which arise from neighbourhood ; aud , still more , from accordance in opinion and sentiment . With
that circle of excellent individuals , of whom mention has been made in a recent memoir * of one of his earliest and best-loved friends , he was well acquainted ; with some of them intimately allied in spirit . It is affecting to dwell on these things , connected , as they now are , with the thoughts of deserted mansions ; of a scattered society ; of lights ,
one by one , dimmed and extinguished . But the cause of sorrow is happily its cure also ; since the ennobling recollection of friendships founded in virtue , and dignified by the desire of mutual improvement , will be far more permanent than the emotions of selfish regret . The Christian is permitted to look higher still : to that
" Blest hour , when virtuous friends shall meet , Shall meet , to part no more I Aud with celestial welcome greet , On an immortal shore . Congenial minds , array'd in light , High thoughts shall interchange , Nor cease , with ever new delight , On wings of love to rauge . "
From the period of Dr . Smith's final settlement in Norwich , he zealously pursued the object of enriching his favourite science with valuable works . Of these , English Botanv is entitled to the first consideration , as containing a description and a coloured figure of every plant known to be indigenous . This work which began to appear anonymously in
1790 , was acknowledged by the ' author in 1795 . It extended to 36 Vols ., and contains 2592 figures of British plants . The Tracts relating to Natural History were published in 1798 . In 1800 , two volumes of the Flora Britannica , and a third in 1804 ; in 1816 , a Compendium
of that work , in one small volume , the fifth edition of which is now in the press . Being convinced , however , that the Botany of his native country requiied the further illustration of a new work in the English language , Dr . Smith devoted much of his time during many years to this favourite object , and it was pursued
* See Monthly Repository , Old Series , Vol . XXI . p . 482 , Memoir of Mr , John Taylor .
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with ardour , in ^ pi te of the inte rruptions of declining health ; with the anxious desire , often expressed , tha $ he might "live to finish it . " His wish was granted , and on the very day $ when he entered his library for the . last time , the packet containing the 4 th Vol . of
the English Flora reached him , and he had the gratification of witnessing the completion of a work , upon . which his friends have often heard him express an opinion that it would eventually contribute more thau any other to the estimation of his knowledge as a botanist , and his character as an author . To resume
the order of his publications : —Iu 1807 , appeared his Introduction to Botan y , which passed through six editions in this country , besides one . in America , and a German one at Vienna . In 1810 * after visiting his friend . Mr . Johnes , the translator of Froissart , Dr . Smith published a Description of Hafod , with coloured plates . In 1811 , appeared the Translation of Linnjeus ' s Tour in
Lapland . In 1821 , The Grammar of Botan y , of which a second edition has since appeared , and also that entertaining work , The Correspondence of Linnjeus , in an English translation . In the year 1796 , died Dr . Sibthorp , Botanical Professor at Oxford , who left a large and valuable collection of plants and drawings made during his tour in
Greece ; for the publication of which , on his approaching death , he provided a handsome salary : and , at the recommendation of Sir Joseph Banks , they were confided by his executors to Dr . Smith , who devoted himself with zeal and assiduity to that great design which was left unfinished by his friend . In 1806 , the first part of the Flora Grjeca appeared . Its publication was continued ,
in . parts , until it reached six folio volumes , with one hundred coloured plates in each . There was also a Prodromus of the same work , in two volumes , 8 vo ., without plates . The plan of the latter was drawn out by Dr . Sibthorp , but nothing of the former , except the figures , was prepared ; nor any botanical characters or descriptions whatever . The difficult and laborious task
of supplying these was performed in such a manner as to increase the high reputation of Dr . Smith , and to secure him the gratitude of every lover of science and literature . He was a large contributor to Dr . Rees ' s Cyclopaedia . All the botanical articles signed S . were written by him , and many biographical ones , which are highly interesting to the general reader ,
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Obituary . —Sir J . E . Smith . 349
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1828, page 349, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2560/page/61/
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