In 1773 he partly took his "Zobeide" from an unfinished tragedy by Voltaire. On sending a copy to Ferney, the enlightened veteran thus concluded his answer: "You have done too much honour to an old sick man of eighty. I am, with the most sincere esteem and gratitude,
"Sir, your obedient servant,
"Voltaire."[98]
I cannot refrain from adding a short extract from the above quoted magazine, as it brings to one's memory another much esteemed and worthy man:—"Here, perhaps, it may be allowable to allude to the sincere attachment between Mr. Cradock, and his old friend Mr. Nichols. For very many years Mr. Nichols had been accustomed to pay Mr. Cradock an annual visit at Gumley Hall; but on Mr. Cradock settling in London, the intercourse became incessant, and we doubt not that the daily correspondence which took place between them, contributed to cheer the latter days of these two veterans in literature. They had both of them in early life enjoyed the flattering distinction of an intimacy with the same eminent characters; and to hear the different anecdotes elicited in their animated conversations respecting Johnson and others, was indeed an intellectual treat of no ordinary description. Mr. Cradock and Mr. Nichols possessed a similarity in taste and judgment. They were both endowed with peculiar quickness of comprehension, and with powers and accuracy of memory rarely equalled." One may say of the liberal minded Mr. Nichols, what Mr. Murphy said of Dr. Johnson, that his love of literature was a passion that stuck to his last stand. The works of Mr. Cradock have, since his decease, been published by Mr. J. B. Nichols, in 4 vols. 8vo. They contain his Essay on Gardening and Village Memoirs. They are enriched by a miniature portrait of him, by Hone, in 1764, when Mr. Cradock was in his prime of life, in his twenty-second year, and when his piercing eyes and intelligent countenance, were thought to have resembled those of Mr. Garrick. There is also a profile shade of Mr. Cradock, taken of him only a month before his decease. In the above quoted magazine, is a copy of this profile, with a memoir.
Sir Joseph Banks. There is a fine portrait of him by Russel, engraved by Collyer. In Mr. Cadell's Contemporary Portraits is another fine one, from the pencil of Lawrence. His portrait is preserved by the Horticultural Society of London, and in the British Museum is his bust, chiselled and presented by the Hon. Mrs. Damer. A good copy of the engraving by Collyer is in the European Magazine for Feb. 1795, and from the memoir there given I select the following:
"If to support the dignity of the first literary society in the world, and by firmness and candour to conciliate the regard of its members; if rejecting the allurements of dissipation, to explore sciences unknown, and to cultivate the most manly qualities of the human heart; if to dispense a princely fortune in the enlargement of science, the encouragement of genius, and the alleviation of distress, be circumstances which entitle any one to a more than ordinary share of respect, few will dispute the claim of the person whose portrait ornaments the present magazine.... In short, he is entitled to every praise that science, liberality, and intelligence can bestow on their most distinguished favourites."
Dr. Pulteney, in his handsome dedication of his Sketches on the progress of Botany, to Sir Joseph, thus alludes to his voyage with Cook:—"To whom could a work of this nature with so much propriety be addressed, as to him who had not only relinquished, for a series of years, all the allurements that a polished nation could display to opulence; but had exposed himself to numberless perils, and the repeated risk of life itself, that he might attain higher degrees of that knowledge, which these sketches are intended to communicate."
The Academy of Sciences at Dijon, in their "Notice sur Sir Jos. Banks," thus apostrophizes his memory:—"Ombre de Banks! apparois en ce lieu consacré au culte des sciences et des lettres; viens occuper la place que t'y conservent les muses, accepter les couronnes qu'elles-mêmes t'ont tressées! viens recevoir le tribut de nos sentimens, témoignage sincère de notre douleur et de not regrets; et par le souvenir de tes vertus, viens enflammer nos cœurs de cet amour pour le bien, qui fut le mobile de toutes tes actions!"[99]
Mr. Johnson, in his History of English Gardening, justly calls him "This universal patron of the arts and sciences. Natural history was the favourite of his scientific studies, and every part of it was enriched by his researches." He again hails him as "a munificent friend of science and literature." The name of Banks will always be associated with that of Solander, the favourite pupil of Linnæus, and with that of the immortal Cook. De Lille closes his Jardins with a most generous and animated invocation to the memory of this intrepid navigator.
William Falconer. The portrait of this eminent physician of Bath, is engraved by Fitler, from a painting by Daniel, of Bath, in 1791. It is prefixed to his "Influence of the Passions upon Disorders." He died in August, 1824, at the age of eighty-one. He published,
1. Essay on the Preservation of the Health of Persons employed in Agriculture, 1s. Bath, 1789.