atirical
and humorous indexes_, not the least facetious parts of
his volumes. King had made notes on more than 20,000 books
and MSS., and his _Adversaria_, of which a portion has been
preserved, is not inferior in curiosity to the literary
journals of Gibbon, though it wants the investigating spirit
of the modern philosopher.

SIR JOHN HILL,

WITH
THE ROYAL SOCIETY, FIELDING, SMART, &c.

A Parallel between Orator HENLEY and Sir JOHN HILL--his love of the
Science of Botany, with the fate of his "Vegetable System"--ridicules
scientific Collectors; his "Dissertation on Royal Societies," and his
"Review of the Works of the Royal Society"--compliments himself
that he is NOT a Member--successful in his attacks on the
Experimentalists, but loses his spirit in encountering the
Wits--"The Inspector"--a paper war with FIELDING--a literary
stratagem--battles with SMART and WOODWARD--HILL appeals to the
Nation for the Office of Keeper of the Sloane Collection--closes
his life by turning Empiric--Some Epigrams on HILL--his
Miscellaneous Writings.

In the history of literature we discover some who have opened their
career with noble designs, and with no deficient powers, yet unblest
with stoic virtues, having missed, in their honourable labours, those
rewards they had anticipated, they have exhibited a sudden transition
of character, and have left only a name proverbial for its disgrace.

Our own literature exhibits two extraordinary characters, indelibly
marked by the same traditional odium. The wit and acuteness of Orator
HENLEY, and the science and vivacity of the versatile Sir JOHN HILL,
must separate them from those who plead the same motives for abjuring
all moral restraint, without having ever furnished the world with a
single instance that they were capable of forming nobler views.

This _orator_ and this _knight_ would admit of a close parallel;[281]
both as modest in their youth as afterwards remarkable for their
effrontery. Their youth witnessed the same devotedness to study, with
the same inventive and enterprising genius. Hill projected and pursued
a plan of botanical travels, to form a collection of rare plants: the
patronage he received was too limited, and he suffered the misfortune
of having anticipated the national taste for the science of botany by
half a century. Our young philosopher's valuable "Treatise on Gems,"
from Theophra