G. P.
Adamsoniana (Vol. vii., p. 500.).—Michel Adanson (not Adamson), who has left his name to the gigantic Baobab tree of Senegal (Adansonia digitata), and his memory to all who appreciate the advantages of a natural classification of plants—for which Jussieu was indebted to him—was the son of a gentleman, who after firmly attaching himself to the Stuarts, left Scotland and entered the service of the Archbishop of Aix. The Encyclopædia Britannica, and, I imagine, almost all biographical dictionaries and similar works, contain notices of him. His devoted life has deserved a more lengthened chronicle.
Seleucus.
Your correspondent E. H. A., who inquires respecting the family of Michel Adamson, or Michael Adamson, is informed that in France, the country of his birth, the name is invariably written "Adanson;" while the author of Fanny of Caernarvon, or the War of the Roses, is described as "John Adamson." Both names are pronounced alike in French; but the difference of spelling would seem adverse to the supposition that the family of the botanist was of Scottish extraction.
Henry H. Breen.
St. Lucia.
Portrait of Cromwell (Vol. viii., p. 55.).—The portrait inquired after by Mr. Rix is at the British Museum. Being placed over the cases in the long gallery of natural history, it is extremely difficult to be seen.
John Bruce.
Burke's "Mighty Boar of the Forest" (Vol. iii., p. 493.; Vol. iv., p. 391.).—It is not, I hope, too late to notice that Burke's description of Junius is an allusion neither to the Iliad, xiii. 471., nor to Psalm lxxx. 8-13., but to the Iliad, xvii. 280-284. I cannot resist quoting the lines containing the simile, at once for their applicability and their own innate beauty: