[281] The moral and literary character of Henley has been developed in
"Calamities of Authors."
[282] The twenty-six folios of his "Vegetable System," with many
others, testify his love and his labour. It contains 1600
plates, representing 26,000 different figures of plants _from
nature only_. This publication ruined the author, whose widow
(the sister of Lord Ranelagh) published "An Address to the
Public, by the Hon. Lady Hill, setting forth the consequences
of the late Sir John Hill's acquaintance with the Earl of
Bute," 1787. I should have noticed it in the "Calamities of
Authors." It offers a sad and mortifying lesson to the votary
of science who aspires to a noble enterprise. Lady Hill
complains of the _patron_; but a patron, however great, cannot
always raise the public taste to the degree required to afford
the only true patronage which can animate and reward an
author. Her detail is impressive:--
"Sir John Hill had just wrote a book of great elegance--I
think it was called 'Exotic Botany'--which he wished to have
presented to the king, and therefore named it to Lord Bute.
His lordship waived that, saying that 'he had a greater object
to propose;' and shortly after laid before him a plan of the
most voluminous, magnificent, and costly work that ever man
attempted. I tremble when I name its title--because I think
the severe application which it required killed him; and I am
sure the expense ruined his fortune--'The Vegetable System.'
This work was to consist of twenty-six volumes folio,
containing sixteen hundred copper-plates, the engraving of
each cost four guineas; the paper was of the most expensive
kind; the drawings by the first hands. The printing was also a
very weighty concern; and many other articles, with which I am
unacquainted. Lord Bute said that 'the expense had been
considered, and that Sir John Hill might rest assured his
circumstances should not be injured.' Thus he entered upon and
finished his destruction. The sale bore no proportion to the
expense. After 'The Vegetable System' was completed, Lord Bute
proposed another volume to be added, which Sir John
strenuously opposed; but his lordship repeating his desire,
Sir John complied, lest his lordship should find a pretext to
cast aside repeated promises of ample provision for himself
and family. But this was the crisis of his fate--he died."
Lady Hill adds:--"He was a character on which every virtue was
impressed." The domestic partiality of the widow cannot alter
the truth of the narrative of "The Vegetable System," and its
twenty-six tomes.
[283] His apologist forms this excuse for one then affecting to be a
student and a rake:--"Though engaged in works which required
the attention of a whole life, he was so exact an economist of
his time that he scarcely ever missed a public amusement for
many years; and this, as he somewhere observes, was of no
small service to him; as, without indulging in these respects,
he could not have undergone the fatigue and study inseparable
from the execution of his vast designs."--Short Account of the
"Life, Writings, and Character of the late Sir John Hill,
M.D." Edinburgh: 1779.
[284] Hogarth has painted a portrait of Folkes, which is still hanging
in the rooms of the Royal Society. He was nominated
vice-president by the great Sir Isaac Newton, and succeeded
him as president. He wrote a work on the "English Silver
Coinage," and died at the age of sixty-four, 1754.--ED.
[285] Hill planned his Review with good sense. He says:--"If I am
merry in some places, it ought to be considered that the
subjects are too ridiculous for serious criticism. That the
work, however, might not be without its _real use_, an _Error_
is nowhere exposed without establishing a _Truth_ in its
place." He has incidentally thrown out much curious
knowledge--such as his plan for forming a _Hortus Siccus_, &c.
The Review itself may still be considered both as curious and
entertaining.
[286] In exposing their deficiencies, as well as their redundancies,
Hill only wishes, as he tells us, that the Society may by this
means become ashamed of what it has been, and that the world
may know that _he is NOT a member of it till it is an honour
to a man to be so_! This was telling the world, with some
ingenuity, and with no little impudence, that the Royal
Society would not admit him as a member. He pretends to give a
secret anecdote to explain the cause of this rejection. Hill,
in every critical conjuncture of his affairs, and they were
frequent ones, had always a story to tell, or an evasion,
which served its momentary purpose. When caned by an Irish
gentleman at Ranelagh, and his personal courage, rather than
his stoicism, was suspected, he published a story of _his_
having once caned a person whom he called Mario; on which a
wag, considering Hill as a Prometheus, wrote--
"To beat one man great Hill was fated.
What man?--a man whom he created!"
We shall see the story he turned to his purpose, when pressed
hard by Fielding. In the present instance, in a letter to a
foreign correspondent, who had observed his name on the list
of the _Correspondents_ of the Royal Society, Hill said--"You
are to know that _I have the honour NOT to be a member of the
Royal Society of London_."--This letter lay open on his table
when a member, upon his accustomed visit, came in, and in his
absence read it. "And we are not to wonder," says Hill, "that
he who could obtain intelligence in this manner could also
divulge it. _Hinc illae lachrymae!_ Hence all the animosities
that have since disturbed this philosophic world." While Hill
insolently congratulates himself that he is _not_ a member of
the Royal Society, he has most evidently shown that he had no
objection to be the member of any society which would enrol
his name among them. He obtained his medical degree from no
honourable source; and another title, which he affected, he
mysteriously contracted into barbaric dissonance. Hill
entitled himself--
_Acad. Reg. Scient. Burd. &c. Soc._