was given to the scene which appeared quite out of keeping with those verdant vines, festooned with swelling grapes, rich in juices that eventually are known to us in the shape of the pleasant vintages of this Moselle district. The road runs along the valley of the Issbach, a little river that finds its way into the Moselle at Alf, and, while it follows the windings of the valley, is always pleasing. Arriving at this village, or town, of Alf, we again change coaches, and here actually commences our journey down the Moselle. The place is pretty enough, with its quaint old houses and little bridge, its fleet of small boats on the river, and its surroundings of bold hills, well wooded or clothed with the luxuriant vine. From Alf the road leads alongside the river the rest of the way to Cochem, following its sinuosities and clinging to its skirts like a frightened child to its mother's apron. And wisely does the road keep beside the sluggish yellow stream, for were it to endeavour to find a course for itself more direct, it would involve itself in all sorts of embarrassments and difficulties with the hills which rise on either side, and while, perhaps, halving the distance it now has to traverse, would find itself climbing up hill and pitching headlong down dale in a manner that would somewhat startle, and certainly harass, the unfortunate travellers who had to follow its course. The beauty of the Moselle scenery is unrivalled. The bold and lofty hills, rising with considerable abruptness towards the clouds, their summits in many cases capped with mouldering ruins or habitable castles, and their sides ever verdant and pleasant to the eye; the fine wooded slopes and luxuriant terraces of grape-vines; while last but certainly not least, the winding river following its devious ways between the gravelly banks these combining form a landscape that affords food for the poet, the painter, the romancist, and gives very reasonable delight to the every-day tourist who has anything approaching an appreciation of the picturesque. What can one say of this beautiful river which has not already been said a thousand times? : At Alf a happy combination of circumstances leads to the seizure of all the places in the diligence before we have time to find a seat; a very happy combination truly, for it compels the production from the stable yard of a very decent carriage which, being fairly horsed, accommodates us well, and at the same time seems to gratify the travelling postman, or conductor, who decidedly prefers this vehicle to the stuffy and uncomfortable old coach, which affords seats for only four "insides." We jog along merrily enough, but we have a long drive before us, and ere we have wound round the final worm in this corkscrew road, it is past four o'clock. Cochem, however, comes at length, and we are happy to bid adieu to the road and the rain, and, taking shelter in the comfortable little Hôtel de l'Union, know again some of the comforts that are to be found even among these dull, sleepy-headed Deutscher. With an obstinate stupidity that was equalled only by the enormous idiocy of the Treves diligence regulators, the managers of the boat running from Cochem to Coblenz had arranged its departure at half-past five in the morning, at which absurdly early hour it was necessary we should rise, or not go by the steamer. Accordingly betimes on the morrow we were stirring, and, in the chill grey morning, went down to the little pier. The sun was struggling hard to break through a heavy veil of mist, but all his efforts were unavailing, and as the motley assemblage of passengers hastened on to the boat, they severally, glancing skywards, came to the conclusion that little beyond the water would be seen. To those who sought the picturesque this was slightly disappointing; for when one comes to see a country a thick fog is apt to interfere considerably, and limit the prospect to undesirably narrow limits. The mist came down on to the river, the summits of the hills disappeared from view, wrapped in as impenetrable a mystery as the history of the ruins they bore, the faint struggling sun-rays gave up in despair and went home, while we on the boat saw nothing but a dense white mist and a winding stream of yellow water. It is very true that we saw but little of the villages on the river's banks; that we only caught occasional glimpses of the tall hills; that we could not compass in our vision the castellated ruins and hoary remnants of baronial glory which we knew to be within almost a stone's throw of us; and that we were compelled to guess that terraces of vines and fine slopes of wooded hill were on either hand. These things are undoubted, but is it not also a fact that there was one of nature's displays which, notwithstanding, we saw in all its perfection, all its glory (if it have any), all its impenetrability? We allude to a fog. Thus went we down the Moselle. ENGLISH BOTANY AND BOTANISTS. BY A COUNTRY VICAR. PART VII. DR. PULTENEY tells us that Plukenet and Petiver were the first English writers (as far as he could find) who followed the example of Plumier in giving personal names to new genera. Petiver indeed, he adds, was severely reprehended by Linnæus for conferring this honour on some who did not merit it. Our worthy doctor gives some interesting information on this subject, which, he says, "may be styled the apotheosis of botanists." The habit of giving personal names to plants may be traced to classical antiquity. In later ages the monks consecrated a variety of plants to the saints in the calendar; and the restorers of botany in a few instances revived the practice. It would seem that Gesner intended to have perpetuated the names of his friends by monuments of this kind. Matthiolus and Clusius, however, actually practised it, though sparingly. It was not, however, till the latter end of the seventeenth century, until the invention of system and the construction of generical characters, that it became general, till at length in this "apotheosis," as Pulteney adds, "Linnæus may be compared to the high priest, who has thus immortalized a numerous group of celebrated men." Of Father Plumier we need not give an account here, further than that he paid special honour to English botanists of renown, by naming various genera after them, which Dr. Pulteney collects into one view,—“ Gerardia, Lobelia, Morisonia, Parkinsonia, Petiveria, Plukenetia, Rajania, Sloanea, Turnera. Plumier's works are relating to exotic botany only. The first was his "Description des Plantes de l'Amérique" fol., Paris, 1695, pp. 94, tab. 108. In 1703, after his return from his third voyage to the West Indies, he published his "Nova Plantarum Genera,' 4to.; and it is in this work that he has given appellations to more than fifty genera, taken from the names of botanists. He died in 1704, while waiting for a ship to embark for Peru, with the object of discovering and delineating the Peruvian bark tree. He had, before his departure from Paris, prepared for the press his "Traité des Fougères de l'Amérique," which was printed in folio, 1705, with 172 plates. The text is in French and Latin. All the ferns contained in his former volume enter again into this with many additions. We may mention that he was born at Marseilles in 1646. To return, however, to the enumeration of those botanists who are mentioned by RAY as assisting him in the prosecution of his labours. JOHN BANISTER has an honourable record in the pages of our illustrious naturalist. He first made a voyage to the East Indies, where he remained some time, but subsequently settled in Virginia. He carefully sought for rare plants, and was celebrated for his knowledge of insects, and meditated writing the Natural History of Virginia, for which, Ray observes, he was every way qualified. A catalogue of plants observed by him in Virginia was sent to Ray in 1680, and published in the second volume of the "History." He was killed by accidentally falling from some rocks in search of botanical rarities. His herbarium came into the possession of Sir Hans Sloane, who thought it a considerable acquisition. A few interesting papers by Banister will be found in the "Philosophical Transactions." Another friend of Ray contemporary with Banister was WILLIAM VERNON, Fellow of St. Peter's College, Cambridge. He went to Maryland, and made a considerable herbarium, which also came into Sir Hans Sloane's possession. Ray describes Vernon as skilful and assiduous in the pursuit of English plants, and that his discoveries in the Cryptogamia were numerous. Dr. Pulteney also mentions a name which deserves to be preserved in the annals of botany. Ray, and especially Plukenet and Petiver, acknowledge important obligations to JAMES CUNNINGHAM for his copious communications of new plants. "The merit of Mr. Cunningham," says our worthy doctor, "would justly demand a more complete gratification of curiosity concerning his life and circumstances than I can supply." He seems to have gone out in 1698 as surgeon to the factory established by the East India Company at Amoy, on the S.E. coast of China; and afterwards made a second voyage in the same capacity to the subsequent establishment at Chusan in 1700, on which island he resided some time. He sent a journal of his voyage and an account of the island of Chusan, which was printed in the "Philosophical Transactions." During his residence on the island he sent over to Plukenet and Petiver a very large number of new plants. In the "Amaltheum" of Plukenet his name occurs in almost every page. According to Dr. Pulteney, he is the first English writer who gives an accurate history of the tea tree. Besides Cunningham there were two "ingenious surgeons," of the name of Brown, resident in the East Indies, contemporary with Plukenet and Petiver, who were most liberal in their communications with those two writers. Samuel Brown was surgeon at Fort St. George (Madras), and was the correspondent of Petiver. Alexander Brown, whose name occurs in many parts of Plukenet's works, discovered many new plants, both in the East Indies and at the Cape of Good Hope. Plukenet named, in honour of him, a new genus of African plants, now the Bruniacea or Bruniads. But, as Dr. Pulteney says, "if to any man in his day, not professedly an author on the subject, extraordinary praise is due for discoveries in indigenous botany, it must belong to MR. SAMUEL DOODY, the contemporary and friend of Ray, Plukenet, and Sloane, who all bear testimony to his merit." Little further is known of him than that he was born in Staffordshire, was an apothecary in London, and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was chosen superintendent and demonstrator of the garden at Chelsea, an office he held for some years before his death, which took place in 1706. As his professional practice was very considerable, it may be presumed that his excursions could not ordinarily extend far beyond London. He struck out a new path in botany, by leading to the study of that tribe which comprehended the imperfect plants, now called the Cryptogamia. In this branch he made the most numerous discoveries of any man in that age, and in the knowledge of it stood clearly unrivalled. The early editions of Ray's "Synopsis" Synopsis" were much amplified by his labours; and he is represented by Ray as a man of uncommon sagacity in discovering and discriminating plants in general. There is a long list of rare plants, many of them new, and first discovered by Mr. Doody, in the second edition of Ray's "Synopsis," accompanied with observations on other species. The learned successor of Tournefort, M. Jussieu, speaks of him as "inter Pharmacopaos Londinenses sui temporis Coryphæus." 1 ' Pulteney. |