s I set up a few lines myself,
and dictate at the same time to one or two of my compositors. Sometimes
I write three lines of a sentence for one, three lines of a sentence for
another. I teach my own children, nine in all, at the same time that I
write paragraphs."[156]

A genial spirit, except when troubled by political anger, usually
sparkles in the writings of Dr. Ross, and in such case they are rather
unfair than bitter. Wherever Arthur disliked, Ross opposed. He denounced
the emigration of the poor, and Archbishop Whately charged him with
baseness, in supporting the penal system of transportation; but no
colonist would question his sincerity. Dr. Ross retired from his
literary labors in 1837, and not long after closed his earthly toils. In
his last address to the public, he said, "independence of spirit has
been my motto; freedom my watchword; the happiness of my fellow-men my
object; and the truth of our religion my buckler and consolation." Such
was his account of himself; and may be left as his merited eulogium to
posterity.

A hand-bill, published during the heat of a political quarrel, from the
head-quarters of his foes, is a curious specimen of party spleen, and
may be taken as the set-off to his own:--"Here lieth the body of James
Ross, printer: formerly a negro driver: who spent the remainder of his
days in advocating the cause of torture, triangles, and the gallows."
Then follow couplets, among which are these:--

"Beneath this sod, mark reader, as you pass
The carcase buried of a great jack-ass:
Perfidious, smiling, fawning, cringing slave,
Hell holds his spirit, and his flesh this grave.
Corruption revels in a kindred soil:
A carcase fatted on an island's spoil!"

An association, with objects more extensive and more ambitious in
organisation, was projected by John Henderson, Esq., a surgeon, from
Calcutta (1829). It was denominated the "Van Diemen's Land Society." The
members proposed to collect and diffuse information respecting the
natural history, produce, mineral worth, statistics, condition, and
capabilities of Van Diemen's Land. The governor accepted the office of
patron of the society, and its establishment was celebrated by a public
banquet. In his account of the institution, the founder and president
relates that, although it enrolled the heads of departments and the most
respectable settlers,[157] he found himself surrounded by spectators
rather than coadjutors; who, in the absence o