Flowers, 8vo. 12, Exotic Botany, folio. 13, Flora Britannica, 8vo. 14, The Vegetable System, twenty-six vols. folio. 15, Hortus Kewensis, 8vo. 16, Herbarium Britannicum, 2 vols. 8vo. 17, On the Construction of Timber, folio. On the Origin and Nature of Spar, 8vo. 19, On a New Mineral Acid, 8vo. 20, Horti Malabarici, Pars Prima, 4to. 18, It cannot be denied, that, in many of these volumes, a considerable fund of information, especially on Botany, was communicated to the public; and though the mode in which it was conveyed was generally slovenly, and sometimes. inaccurate and unscientific, our author must be allowed the merit of having greatly contributed to diffuse through the island a taste for natural history. Had the prudence and temper of Hill been equal to his industry, his character with his contemporaries, and with posterity, would have been highly esteemed; but no sooner had he acquired a portion of affluence from his practice, and the sale of his numerous publications, than he exhibited himself as vain, presuming, and vindictive. Throwing off the decorum which, as a philosopher and physician, (for.he had obtained a Degree from St. Andrew's) it was incumbent upon him to preserve, he launched out into the gay world, was present at every place of amusement, and by his equipage, dress, conversation, and manners, aspired to the reputation of a man of fashion and intrigue. Not content, likewise, with the employment of his pen on scientific subjects, he commenced a writer of pamphlets, magazines, and novels,* which were, in general, the vehicles of scurrility and abuse. By folly such as this, he so debased his character, that when he became a candidate for admission into the Royal Society, his conduct, in the opinion of that learned body, had rendered him ineligible as a member. Indignant at this rejection, he immediately published "A Review of the Works of the Royal Society," 4to; in which he has attempted, and sometimes with success, to place their Transactions in a ludicrous light. The attack, however, so far from being prejudicial to these associated philosophers, was of essential service, by rendering them more select in their choice of papers for the press. The usual consequence of indecent and indiscriminate satire awaited our author; for a time the profits arising from his pen were so great as, sometimes, to amount to 1500l. per annum; but, * He was the author of the " British Magazine," and of the "Adventures of Loveill," the "History of Lady Frail," the "Adventures of George Edwards, a Creole," &c. &c. at length, his licentious liberties involved him in such frequent controversies and quarrels, that he lost all estimation with the public, and consequently with the booksellers. In his paper wars with Smart, Woodward, Fielding, Murphy, &c. he incurred nothing but obloquy and disgrace, and it became necessary to look out for another source of income. Fertile in expedients, and not delicate in his choice of means, he immediately entered on a novel and very lucrative course of empyricism. He published a variety of octavo pamphlets on the virtues of valerian, honey, sage, centaury, bardana, &c. announcing for sale essences, balsams, and tinctures of the articles which he had recommended; and with such success, that his revenue from this species of quackery exceeded even what he had derived from literary labour. He had been early, indeed, distinguished for a propensity to empyrical practice, and in the year 1752 he is mentioned by Mr. Murphy, in a parody on Dryden, as the successful rival of Dr. Rock. Three great wise Men, in the same æra born, To make a Third she join❜d the former Two. Towards the close of his life fortune smiledupon our adventurer with more permanency than the employment of his literary talents merited. Shortly after the advertisement of his first empyrical preparation, the place of superintendant of the royal gardens at Kew, accompanied by a very liberal salary, was given him by Lord Bute, under whose patronage he was likewise enabled to prosecute his splendid publication, called "The Vegetable System." To this establishment was added, about two years previous to his decease, a title from the King of Sweden, by whom, on receiving a present from the author of his botanical works, he was created a knight of the Polar Star. After a life of more notoriety than respectability, Sir John died, in consequence of an attack of the gout, in November 1775. The Inspector, the best of the miscellaneous writings of Hill, was originally published in the London Daily Advertiser. It commenced in the month of March 1751, and was continued regularly every morning for about two years. It is a striking proof of the unwearied assiduity of Hill, that, occupied as he was in writing voluminous productions on natural history, he could find time for the composition of a miscellaneous paper, which he agreed to publish daily, and which he executed without the smallest assistance. To supply subject matter, however, for this perpetual demand, he hesitated not to introduce a large portion of scandal and virulent satire, which not only subjected him to literary retaliation, but even to corporal chastisement; having been caned, for one of his "Inspectors," in the public gardens of Ranelagh. So conscious was he, indeed, of the worthlessness and indecorum of a large part of his essays, that in the year 1753 he printed a selection from them, in two volumes duodecimo, omitting, as he says in the Advertisement prefixed, all those "written on occasional subjects," and " also a number of others, for reasons not less obvious." Under this form the Inspector includes one hundred and fifty-two numbers; many of which are written with vivacity, and a few exhibit traits of humour, character, and imagination. The most useful and interesting papers in the work are devoted to subjects of natural history, especially to microscopical observations on insects, fossils, &c. The style of this periodical paper, as might be expected from the hasty manner in which it was usually written, is often loose and slovenly, and frequently ungrammatical.* I must, in justice, add, that many of the poems on Natural History are written with an uncommon flow of eloquence |