and Robson,[1] and many more on the authority of WALLIS[2]. By the perusal of his Natural History of Northumberland, Botanists, even of the present day, may obtain useful information, though, unfortunately for his reputation as a correct man of science, two or three of the most remarkable plants, which he supposed he had discovered growing with
us, were not the species he took them for ; yet, on most occasions, I
have ascertained him to be correct ; and, let it be remembered, that in
his time, no well executed and coloured engravings, such as those
which adorn Curtis and Hooker's Flora Londinensis, or SMITH and
SOWERBY'S English Botany, had been published to assist the diligent,
but more commonly to spoil the indolent Botanist.
From Mr. HOGG's valuable Tract,[3] appended to the second edition of Brewster's History of Stockton, numerous habitats have been extracted, for the south-eastern corner of the county of Durham is propitious to the growth of several southern plants which here terminate their range
- ↑ The British Flora, by STEPHEN ROBSON, 8vo. York, 1777.
- ↑ The Natural History and Antiquities of Northumberland, by JOHN WALLIS, A.M., 2 vols., 4to. London, 1769. I am not aware that any life of the historian of Northumberland has been published, but short biographical notices of him may be seen in HUTCHINSON's History of Cumberland, vol. ii. p. 267, and BREWSTER's History of Stockton, second edition, p. 391-395. To these I could have added several characteristic anecdotes communicated to me by the Rev.G. WILSON, Rector of Wolsingham, and Mrs. HOGG, of Norton, who were personally acquainted with WALLIS in his latter years, but it was not in my power to detail these without attaching censure to persons who neglected and treated with harshness so worthy and single-hearted a man in the decline of life ; and such strictures would be out of place in the Transactions of this Society. On leaving Simonburn, WALLIS retired first to Billingham, and then to Norton, in the county of Durham, where he died, and was interred. His tomb-stone bears the following inscription :— "Under this stone are deposited the remains of the Rev. JOHN WALLIS, A.M., who died July 19, 1793, aged 78. Also of Elizabeth, his wife, who died January 13, 1801, aged 90. A marble tablet is erected to their memory in the north aisle of the church." This tablet never was erected.
- ↑ The Natural History of the Vicinity of Stockton on Tees, by J. Hogg, A.M. 8vo. Stockton, 1827.—Forming an Appendix to Brewster's History of Stockton.
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