readers. This was suggested by Sir Joseph Banks, who, in writing to Sir John
Sinclair upon the subject, stated "that an account of the systems of husbandry adopted in the more improved districts of Scotland would be of the greatest
advantage to the agricultural interests of the United Kingdom; and that it was incumbent upon a native of Scotland, while presiding at the Board of Agriculture, and possessing all the means of information which that situation afforded, to undertake the task." All this was true but what a task! This was fully explained by Sir John in his excuse for declining the attempt: but Sir Joseph
Banks would not be thus satisfied; and he returned to the charge, declaring "that agriculture has derived, is deriving, and will derive more benefit from Scottish industry and skill, than has been accumulated since the days
when Adam first wielded the spade." Having allowed himself to be persuaded,
Sir John Sinclair went to work, and not content with the voluminous materials
already on hand, he visited every district noted for the cultivation both of heavy
and light soils, and scattered queries in all directions among the farmers respecting their best processes of cultivation. It was no wonder that this labour
occupied as long a period as the siege of Troy; so that, although it commenced in 1809, it was not finished until 1819. Three editions of the "Code of Agriculture" have since appeared; it was also published in America, and translated
into the French, German, and Danish languages. One of these translators,,
M. Mathieu Dombasle, of Loraine, the most distinguished agriculturist of his
nation, thus correctly characterized the work in a letter to Sir John:—"I have been for some time occupied in translating your excellent 'Code of Agriculture.' If anything can contribute to raise agriculture in France to the rank of
a science, which we could not till now pretend to do, it will certainly be the publication of this work in France, being the most systematic, the most concise, and, in my opinion, the most perfect which has hitherto been written in
any language."
From the foregoing account, in which we have endeavoured to present the beneficent and most valuable exertions of Sir John Sinclair in an unbroken series, it must not be thought that his career was without interruption. Had he escaped, indeed, the obloquy and opposition that have ever requited the great benefactors of mankind, he would have formed a singular exception to that universal rule which has prevailed from the days of Tresmegistus to our own. His first annoyance was from Pitt himself, once his attached friend, but finally alienated from him upon certain great political questions of the day. It was strange that this should react upon him as president of the Agricultural Board, from which all political resentments ought to have been excluded. But his sentiments upon such questions as the Warren Hastings trial, the government of Ireland, and the Westminster scrutiny, were destined to unseat him from a chair which he had so nobly filled, and that, too, of a society that owed its very existence to himself. And where was another to be found that could occupy his room? But upon such a question political resentment seldom condescends to pause ; and after he had been for five years chairman of the Board of Agriculture, another was proposed, and chosen by a majority of one. This new election was made in favour of Lord Sommerville, who assumed the appointment with reluctance, while the public were indignant at the movement. Thus matters continued for eight years, when Sir John was restored to his proper office—an unsalaried office, that not only involved much labour, but personal expense to boot. This Sir John felt in weary days of anxiety and toil, and such a
