A third work was taken in hand by Martius in 1823, and, indeed, the one with which his name will be most closely and enduringly connected. This was the Monograph of Palms, Historia Naturalis Palmarum' (3 vols. imp. fol., Munich, 1823-50). The peculiar richness of Brazil in Palms, the beauty of Brazilian forms, and the honour likely to accrue from a new and comprehensive work on this group of plants induced Martius to concentrate his attention upon them immediately after his arrival in Brazil. The fulfilment of this great undertaking cost twenty-eight years of labour and research.

For the matters with which he was less conversant, Martius obtained the cooperation of distinguished colleagues. The chapter on the anatomy of palms was written by H. von Mohl; the fossil palms fell to the share of F. Unger; and Sendtner and A. Braun contributed to the morphology. But by far the greater part came from the pen of Martius himself, notably the chapter on the geographical distribution of palms, in which Martius enunciated his views on phyto-geography in general; and the whole of the third volume, containing descriptions of all known palms, systematically arranged, and forming in itself an almost complete monograph of the family. The scientific merit of this work was universally acknowledged. Not only was the 'special knowledge of palms thereby greatly extended, but the science of botany in general was signally promoted; and it may be said, in the words of a great naturalist, that, “ SO long as palms are known and palms are grown, the name of Martius will not be forgotten."

The last great work by Martius to which we can refer on this occasion is the Flora Brasiliensis.' He had made an attempt, in conjunction with Nees von Esenbeck, to publish such a work on a small scale, but soon abandoned the idea; but in 1839, encouraged by Prince Metternich, he planned a far more ambitious publication, in conjunction with the celebrated Viennese botanist Endlicher. The groundwork of it was to consist of an entirely new and scientific elaboration of all the accessible materials brought together from Brazil, accompanied by numerous plates, thus forming a splendid systematic whole. To comprehend in some degree the magnitude of such an undertaking, it must be remembered that the flora of Brazil numbers almost five times as many species as that of the entire area of Central Europe. It was plain that the carrying out such a work could be accomplished only by the joint labours of many scientific men; and Martius was fortunate enough to obtain the services of the most eminent German and foreign botanists for this purpose. The Emperor Ferdinand I. of Austria, and the Emperor Don Pedro II. of Brazil, and also King Louis of Bavaria took the work under their special patronage. After Endlicher's death in 1849, Fenzl, his successor in office, supplied his place, as co-editor with Martius. At first the work proceeded slowly, on account of the novelty and costliness of the undertaking; but since the year 1850, in consequence of the increased interest taken in it by the Bra

zilian Government, it has gone on more rapidly, and has now reached the 46th part. The completion, which Martius so longed to see, has been intrusted to his friend Dr. Eichler. It was one of Martius's last cares to take the needful steps to ensure its continuance; so that we may reasonably hope to see this noble monument of German industry in science brought to a close. Even now the parts that have appeared form the most comprehensive work in botanical literature yet published. Nearly 10,000 species are described, and these are illustrated by more than 1100 folio plates. It is evident that the editing and publication alone of so enormous a mass of matter is a performance worthy of the highest acknowledgment; but Martius's merit was by no means limited to that. True, of all the monographs published, two only were by Martius; but then he supplemented nearly all the others by valuable explanations on the geographical distribution and the medicinal, technical, and economical importance of the several plants. He also contributed a series of characteristic plates representing the vegetation (Tabulæ Physiognomicæ'), accompanied by masterly definitions, in elegant Latin. He also contributed maps of the floral districts, routes of travel, &c. Several of the monographs in the Flora Brasiliensis' are esteemed as masterpieces; for in many cases the men who wrote them had previously devoted years of study to the respective groups. The mere enumeration of Martius's other writings would fill a long space, for there are more than 150 separate works. Among these may be specially mentioned his Beiträge zur Ethnographie und Sprachkunde Braziliens' as evidence, besides what appears in the narrative of his travels, that he devoted himself to other objects in Brazil besides the study of its natural history.

Reverting to the main facts of Martius's life, we left him in 1820, just after his return from Brazil, when he was nominated ordinary member of the Academy, and second conservator of the Botanic Garden. For some years his position remained unchanged. When, however, in 1826, King Ludwig I. ascended the throne, and the University of Landshut was removed to Munich, he was appointed Professor of Botany in that institution; and six years later, upon the retirement of the aged Schrank, he received the post of first conservator. With the exception of occasional journeys to England, France, Holland, &c., he discharged almost uninterruptedly the duties of both appointments until 1854. In 1840 he was elected Secretary to the Mathematical and Physical Class of the Munich Academy, and continued in the office till the time of his death.

With a budget of only 4500 florins, Martius succeeded, with the assistance of the highly meritorious gardener Weinkauff, in making the Botanic Garden a model establishment. The Garden had just been rearranged with great care, and partially replanted, when in 1854, by the erection of a glass building for an industrial exhibition, the beautiful plan was marred. Martius, who had vainly remonstrated against this intrusion, ceased to

interest himself in the garden; and his principal occupation thereafter was the publication of the Flora Brasiliensis.'

Whatever the world could offer in acknowledgment of his merits Martius received. He was elected member of nearly all the academies and learned bodies in Europe, and kings and emperors honoured him with the most distinguishing marks of favour. His election as Foreign Member of the Royal Society was in 1838. He rejoiced in the esteem and friendship of his most distinguished contemporaries; and plants and animals, and even a mountain (Mount Martius in New Zealand), were named in his honour. But the most gratifying expression of homage and veneration was presented to him on the 30th of March, 1864, the 50th and jubilee anniversary of the day on which he was invested with the degree of Doctor. His friends caused a medal to be struck, with the inscription, "Palmarum patri dant lustra decem tibi palmam. In Palmis resurges." And on the 15th of December, 1868, the remains of the departed were lowered into their last resting-place bedecked with Palm-leaves.

GENERAL THOMAS PERRONET THOMPSON was born at Hull, on the 15th of March, 1783, the eldest of three sons of Thomas Thompson, Esq., a merchant and banker of that town, and for several years M.P. for Midhurst. His mother was the grand-daughter of the Rev. Vincent Perronet, vicar of Shoreham in Kent, a Swiss Protestant by descent, and one of the few clergymen of the Church of England who joined John Wesley at the commencement of his mission. The youth's early education was received at the Hull grammar school, under the Rev. Joseph Milner, author of the "Ecclesiastical History;" and in October 1798 he entered Queen's College, Cambridge, where in due time he took his B.A. degree with the honour of Seventh Wrangler-no bad start in life for a boy under nineteen. In 1803 he sailed as a midshipman in the 'Isis' of 50 guns, the flagship of Vice-Admiral (afterwards Lord) Gambier, on the Newfoundland station, and was shortly after put in charge of a West-Indiaman recaptured in the mouth of the Channel, and ordered with other prizes to Newfoundland, where she arrived, the only one that had stuck by her convoy through those foggy latitudes. In the following year he received information of having been elected to a Fellowship at Queen's, "a sort of promotion," he remarks, "which has not often gone along with the rank and dignity of a midshipman." Trafalgar, for which he saw Nelson embark on board the Victory' at Portsmouth in September 1805, closed the prospect of active service in the navy, and in 1806 he joined the "old 95th Rifles" as a second Lieutenant, and was among the prisoners captured, together with General Crawford, by the Spaniards in the Convent of San Domingo, in Whitelock's attack on Buenos Ayres, on the 5th July, 1807.

After his liberation and return to England he was sent in the spring of 1808, at the age of twenty-five, as Governor, to Sierra Leone, through the influence of Mr. Wilberforce, an early friend of his father's. Here his

efforts to put down the Slave Trade, which secretly existed under the name of "apprenticeship," marked the man who ever after stuck "closer than a brother" to the dark-skinned races of the earth. "There was no time for hesitation" (he wrote long afterwards). "Of two things he must do one, either withdraw under the pressure of the acknowledged danger of meddling with a dishonest system, or push forward for the present abatement of the mischief, with the almost certainty of being abandoned by the government at home." He chose the latter, and was recalled. When the official documents connected with his proceedings were subsequently required for discussion in Parliament, reply was made that they could not be found.

After marrying, in 1811, Anne Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. Thomas Barker, of York, he joined the 14th Light Dragoons in Spain as Lieutenant, and was present at the actions of Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, and Toulouse, for which he received the Peninsular War-medal with four clasps. During the campaign of 1814 he was taken off regimental duty and attached to the staff of General (afterwards Sir Henry) Fane, of whose kindness and ability be preserved a grateful recollection. "Some old dragoons, discharged on eightpence a day," he writes of himself," may remember that he was a careful leader of a patrol, a good look-out on picquet, could feel a retiring enemy, and carry off a sentry for proof, as well as another, a great hater of punishment, and a man of very small baggage, consisting of something like a spare shirt and an Arabic grammar."

His youngest brother, Charles, B.A. and Travelling Bachelor of Queen's, and Lieutenant and Captain in the 1st Foot Guards, was killed in action at Biarritz, in the South of France, on the 12th December, 1813; and the survivor, in the irresistible desire of seeing his face once more, had him taken up a few days after and reinterred in the garden of the Mayor of Biarritz, where he rests among the strawberry beds with two other officers of the same regiment, over whose graves the gallant Frenchman has placed a stone with an appropriate French inscription. This striking incident was commemorated by the muse of Amelia Opie, who on this occasion felt as a friend, a relative, and a poet.

Promoted at the peace of 1814, Captain Thompson exchanged into the 17th Light Dragoons, serving in India, where he improved his knowledge of Arabic, which he had begun to study as a subaltern of dragoons in Spain. Arriving at Bombay in 1815, he soon after served in the Pindarry campaign, and had charge of the outposts of the force under Sir William Grant Keir, whom he accompanied in 1819 as Arabic interpreter to the expedition against the Wahabees of the Persian Gulf. In this capacity he assisted at the reduction of Râs al Khyma and other places on the coast, and had a prominent part in negotiating the treaty with the defeated tribes, the most remarkable article in which was the declaring the Slave Trade to be piracy; the earliest declaration to that effect in point of time, though the American one reached England first (see "Exercises," vol. iv. p. 29).

When the main body of the expedition returned to Bombay, he was left in charge of Râs al Khyma with 1100 men, Sepoys with a detachment of European artillery, and was eventually ordered to demolish the town, and withdraw the troops to the island of Kishme on the Persian coast. A misunderstanding having arisen between the Bombay Government and the Arabs of Al Ashkerch on the coast of Omân, who had plundered certain boats, the former sent an order to Captain Thompson to act against them from Kishme in the event of their clearly appearing to be piratical, but to address a letter to them previously to any attack being made. This attempt at negotiation failing through the murder by the hostile tribe of the messenger bearing the letter, the injunction to communicate appeared to be fulfilled and answered. Few will see any alternative but to execute the orders to act; and military men will comprehend the duty of acting with decision under the circumstances which had arisen. Landing at Soor, on the Arabian coast, forty-six English miles from the town of the hostile tribe of Beni Bou Ali, Captain Thompson's small force of 320 Sepoys and four guns was joined by the Imâm of Maskat with 2000 men of his own. The force of the enemy was reported to be 900 bearing arms. On the 9th November, 1820, as the column was toiling through the sand, the hostile sheik, Mohammed Ben Ali, advanced to the attack, sword in hand. What followed is best described in Captain Thompson's own words, written in a private letter the next day :-"The Arabs made the guns the point of attack, and advanced upon them. The instant I heard a shot from the light troops, which showed the Arabs to be in motion, I ordered the Sepoys to charge with the bayonet. Not a man moved forward. I then ordered them to fire. They began a straggling and ineffectual fire, aided by the artillery, the Arabs all the while advancing, brandishing their swords. The Sepoys stood till the Arabs were within fifteen yards, when they turned and ran. I immediately galloped to the point where the Sepoys were least confused, and endeavoured to make them stand; but they fired their musquets in the air and went off. The Imâm's army began a fire of matchlocks, and went off as soon as the Arabs approached. I rode to the Imâm and found him wounded. The people just ran like sheep. I saw some of the European artillerymen, and ran to endeavour to make them stand; but they were too few to do anything."

In the midst of the mêlée the writer was struck on the shoulder by a matchlock ball, which passed through coat and shirt, grazing the skin, as he used to say, "like the cut of a whip." The loss of the force in men and guns was most severe, "as must always be the case," he observes, "when troops wait to be attacked with the sword and then give way." The remnants were at length rallied at the town of Beni Bou Hassan, about three miles from the scene of action, and after repulsing a night attack, were led back overland to Maskat by Captain Thompson in person, eight days after the fight.

Another expedition was quickly sent from Bombay. The town was