e was described by himself, in a letter to Sir
Everard Home, as accidental. One afternoon he had been bathing with some
of the Eton boys, and, on returning to dress himself, found that they
had left him alone. Walking down a green lane, whose sides exhibited the
wild-flowers of the season, the thought occurred to him, how much more
natural and useful would be the knowledge of plants, than of Greek and
Latin. From this time he devoted himself to the study of botany, though
still continuing that of the classics. On returning to his father's
house, he found a copy of Gerard's _Herbal_, which fixed his taste. He
now added to his collecting of plants that of butterflies and other
insects. Lord Brougham mentions that his father was one of Banks's
associates at this period, and that they employed themselves together in
natural history.

Natural history has been so frequently the pursuit of studious triflers,
that it is difficult to exempt it from the charge of trifling. To gather
plants which have been gathered a thousand times before, to ascertain
their names from an herbal, and classify them according to its list,
seems to be little more than a grave apology for playing the fool. A
determination to gather all the butterflies and blue-bottles within the
limits of the realm, certainly has nothing that can dignify it with the
name of scientific pursuit. The collecting of pebbles and shells, or
even the arranging of animals in the cases of a museum, are
accomplishments of so easy an order, and of so little actual use, that
they serve for little else than to wile away the time. But this trifling
assumes a more important shape when it rises to the acquisition of
actual knowledge; when, instead of classifying plants, it develops their
medicinal virtues, and, instead of embalming animals, it examines their
structure, as throwing light on the conformation or diseases of man.

But Sir Joseph Banks was fortunately relieved from subsiding into this
foppery, by circumstances which forced him into vigorous and useful
exertion. An approaching transit of Venus had been long looked to, as
giving an opportunity for ascertaining the distance of the sun from the
earth. It was recommended, that observations on this phenomenon should
be made from different stations on the globe. Accordingly, in 1761, the
British government sent out two observers, one to the Cape and the other
to St Helena. The French government at the same time sent out three--to