MEMOIR

AND

CORRESPONDENCE

OF

SIR JAMES EDWARD SMITH.

CHAPTER VII.

Correspondence of Edmund Davall, Esq.,-Sir James Edward Smith, and the Marchioness of Rockingham;-and two Letters from Professor Afzelius.

THE late Mr. Davall, of Orbe, was one whose fondness for natural science led him to cultivate an acquaintance with the subject of these pages, which soon settled into a warm personal affection on either side, and remained unimpaired through their lives.

An Englishman by birth, he was destined by circumstances to reside in Switzerland: but although he lived in a beautiful country, surrounded by objects most pleasing to him, yet he seems to suffer the pangs of an exile whenever he writes to his friend. The yearnings of desire to be among those who assimilate in pursuits, in intellectual and moral taste, cannot be more forcibly expressed than in the

observation, that even the grand scenes of nature, most precious in the estimation of pure and enthusiastic minds, even these grow flat, stale and unprofitable, without the presence of a congenial friend to share in the enjoyments which they impart.

A sensibility which became morbid, affected his tender spirits; and he experienced towards England the true maladie du pays which the inhabitants of his adopted country feel when long absent from their native soil.

Mr. Davall had projected, and indeed made some progress in, a work on the plants of Switzerland, which he never completed. Ill-health, and a too anxious care for its being faultless, retarded, and finally stopped the publication of his accurate and ingenious labours.

A love of botany was the ruling passion of his mind, and was indeed but an effect of the adoration he paid to the beauty of creation in all its forms. Actuated by a pure love of nature, he was free from the restless passions of ambition or fame:-but the passions of others too often troubled his repose; and when he discovered the degrading traits of suspicion and reserve, where he reposed confidence, his ingenuous spirit was vexed and grieved more than it ought to have been, and he was led to charge himself with misanthropy, when all he felt was wounded love.

A little sketch of his history, which he had written to his friend sometime about the year 1795, will at once exhibit the sensitive disposition of this excellent man.

Orbe, Canton de Berne, en Suisse.

"I never yet remained so long without writing to you, my dearest and best friend: you will not be surprised at this, when I shall have explained the cause of my silence. My health has been very unsettled, as it too generally is.-You know how ardent is my love of plants. Among the various contrarieties I have been obliged to bear, the want of sufficient room for my books and herbarium, &c. drove me from a very small study which I formerly occupied, and to which I was confined, because a contiguous room, which would have suited me, was appropriated to a much more important use,—the admittance of some card parties, when another room more usually frequented could not suffice. I was therefore obliged, during the latter part of the reign of these accursed cards, to take refuge in a less limited room on the ground-floor.-Not to be too prolix, and to come to the point, I discovered last summer, that in this position, from a certain degree of damp, though not very great, my herbarium has been in a great measure spoilt; a great number of specimens are become mouldy, and among these some of the most precious.

"You will pardon me, surely, if I unload in some degree my heart, by opening myself somewhat further to you, who give me such kind proofs of your friendship.

"It was just at the epoch of the death of my father that I began to have some vague notion of botany; that I perceived it was possible to acquire some knowledge of that enchanting study, by means of

solitary application. I had from my cradle a latent germen, which unfortunately,-not having had the happiness of reckoning among my early acquaintance any one properly given to natural history,—had waited for direction till that moment. Having always been fond of gardening, I had bought Miller's Calendar, and it was there I first saw a sketch of the Linnæan system. I was suddenly inspired; and at this critical period resolved to pursue a study which I was certain would be productive of better happiness than any plan that might lead to pecuniary advantage.

"With my father I lost my home in my native. country; for my mother, after this separation, was earnestly desirous of finishing her days in the land which gave her birth. Thus I became from the nature of my circumstances exiled as it were to this country.

"On my return here from my last visit to England, -which is surely the most memorable and the happiest period of my whole life, as it procured me not only your acquaintance but also your inestimable friendship, which I prefer to every other blessing that Providence could grant me, my ardour became greater than ever; and for that very reason the perpetual card parties in the house I inhabit, the neverending histories of Spadille and Manille of my good old aunts, became more irksome to me than before. I discontinued totally their sociétés, which I found quite intolerable; and the more so, as almost without a single exception the society of this little place is composed of that too numerous herd, who are

constantly desirous of killing time they know not how to employ ! and who express their esteem for persons of a studious disposition by-a shrug.

"Thus recluse, and little thinking how soon every one of these good women would be obliged to lay aside her cards (the last died literally with cards in her hands), I too often felt the want of a present friend.

"Having mentioned these several matters, which I could not resist communicating to you, I shall forget them for a while to turn to other subjects; for I have two letters from you!!-unanswered! and moreover I must talk a little botany, to convince you that no circumstances whatever can divert me totally from that delightful source of happiness, to which I shall have recourse till my last breath.

"I have something to tell you which will give you pleasure, affording a new proof how much certain good discoveries in botany are casual, and the effect of some happy moment.

"I went one day in August to my mountain Suchet. In going up the fir woods at the side, I learnt by the waving of the trees and the uncommon murmur, where I am accustomed to delightful "horror ac silentium", that a strong wind had arisen. When I got to the ridge with the intention of gaining the summit, I found the gale so strong, full against me from the N.E., that after tying my handkerchief over my hat and under my chin, every effort to get on was useless; when a leg was lifted, I was almost blown back;—you know by experience what is the power of wind in such positions: I therefore declined it,