or private boarding-school: he is one of the many favourable
testimonies to the advantages of a strictly domestic education, conducted
by aid of the most efficient masters, under the immediate superintendence
of parental care. About the age of eighteen, he devoted himself to the
study of botany as a science, and says himself, "the only book he could
then procure was 'Berkenhout,' Hudson's 'Flora' having become extremely
scarce." He received "Berkenhout" on the 9th of January, 1778, and on
the 11th began to examine the _Ule curopaeus_ (common furze), and then
first comprehended the nature of systematic arrangement, little aware
that, at _that instant_, the world was losing the great genius who was to
be to him so important a future guide, and whose vacant place in the
world of science he was destined so ably to fill. Linnaeus died that
night, January 11th, 1778.

In 1780 Mr. Smith went to Edinburgh, and from thence to London, with a
view to study for the medical profession. During his stay there, he
became intimate with Sir Joseph Banks, an eminent patron of natural
science, through whom he heard that the library and museum of Linnaeus
were for sale, and immediately he entered into negotiations with Dr.
Acrel, of Upsal, concerning it, which ended in his becoming the purchaser
of the whole collection at the price of nine hundred guineas. From
London he went to Leyden, and graduated as a physician at the university
there. From thence he proceeded on a tour, visiting most of the
classical spots and celebrated places in Italy and France, and upon his
return to London devoted himself almost exclusively to pursuits connected
with his favourite science, botany. By the assistance of his personal
friend, the Bishop of Carlisle, one among the many great minds with whom
he held constant communion, he set about establishing the Linnaean
Society. Its first meeting was held in April, 1788, when an introductory
address, "On the Rise and Progress of Natural History," was read by Sir
James, then Dr. Smith, which paper formed the first article in the
"Transactions of the Linnaean Society," a work which has since extended
itself to twenty quarto volumes. In 1792 Dr. Smith was invited to give
instructions in botany to the queen and princesses at Frogmore; and in
1814, received the honour of knighthood from the Prince Regent.

Ill health caused Sir James to return to his native county to recruit his
strength, and there he continued