marks of necesaity an epoch in botany, and Bentham's share in it is his most enduring monument — a model of scientific accuracy, good arrangement, precision of language, and lucidity. Some of the more important orders were also fully discussed by him in extended memoirs in the 'Linnean Society's Journal' during the progress of the 'Genera Plantarum;' among these, those on the Myrtaceæ, Compositæ, Orchideæ, Gramineæ, and on the classification of Monocotyledons, are of special value.
Personally shy and retiring, Bentham's honours were forced upon him unsought. He was elected into the Royal Society in 1862, and received the distinction of a royal medal in 1859; he was also a corresponding member of the Institute of France, in 1878, on the completion of the Australian flora, he was created C.M.G. His reserved manner appeared cold and unsympathetic to those who knew him little; those who knew him well found him warm-hearted and generous in disposition, 'the kindliest of critics, the firmest of friends.'
On the conclusion of the 'Genera Plantarum,' the veteran botanist's strength gave way, and, after ineffectual attempts to resume work at Kew, he became weaker and finally died of old age on 10 Sept. 1884, leaving no family. He bequeathed 1,000l. to the Linnean Society, a like sum to the Scientific Relief Fund of the Royal Society, and a considerable sum for the preparation and publication of botanical works at Kew, and the development of its herbarium and library.
The work by which Bentham was best known to British botanists is his 'Handbook of the British Flora,' 1858. An enlarged and illustrated edition in 2 vols, appeared in 1863-5. All the descriptions were freshly drawn up from specimens.
Besides the works and papers enumerated above, Bentham wrote upwards of 120 separate papers or memoirs, on the classification and description of flowering plants, in 'Linnea,' Hooker's 'Bot. Misc.,' 'Bot. Mag.,' and 'Journ. Bot.,' Linnean Soc. 'Journ.' and 'Trans.,' Hort. Soc. 'Trans.,' 'Natural History Review' (Amur Flora, April 1861; South European Floras, July 1864; De Candolle's Prodromus, Oct. 1864); 'Commentationes de Leguminosarum Generibus,' 4to, Vienna, 1837; 'Enumeratio Plantarum Nov. Holland.' (Hügel's Collection), Vienna, 1837; 'Botany of H.M.S. Sulphur,' London, 1844-6; 'Flora Nigritiana ' in Hooker's 'Niger Flora,' London, 1849; 'Papilionaceæ' in Endlicher and Martin's 'Flora Brasiliensis,' 1840, &c.; Œrsted's papers on Central American flora include much material supplied by Bentham.
[Nature, 2 Oct. 1884 (by Sir Joseph Hooker, who has also kindly revised this article); Gardener's Chronicle, 20 Sept. 1884 (by Dr. Masters); Athenæum, 20 Sept. 1884; Autobiographical Details in Brit Ass. Rep. 1874; Nat. Hist. Rev. (1861), 133, 'On Species and Genera of Plants;' Nature, xxviii. 485; Linn. Soc Journ. Bot. xx. 304.]
BENTHAM, JAMES (1708–1794), historian of Ely, came of a clerical family in Yorkshire, which had produced an uninterrupted succession of clergymen from the time of Queen Elizabeth. He was the fourth son of the Rev. Samuel Bentham, vicar of Witchford near Ely, and brother of Edward Bentham [q. v.], professor at Oxford. Having acquired the rudiments of learning in Ely grammar school, he was admitted 26 March 1727 to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he proceeded B.A. in 1730, and M.A. in 1738. Five years previously — in 1733 — he had been presented to the vicarage of Stapleford in Cambridgeshire, which he resigned in 1737, when he was made a minor canon of Ely. In this office he exerted himself to improve the choral service of the church. The practical bent of his mind and his public spirit were shown in his various endeavours to improve the fen country, then in a very deplorable condition (see Hist. of Ely, p. 212).
He published in 1757 proposals for making turnpike roads under the title of 'Queries for the consideration of the Inhabitants of the City of Ely and Towns adjacent.' His plan, after encountering ridicule and obloquy for five years or more, was carried into effect under powers obtained by an act of parliament passed in 1763, and by the aid of subscriptions and loans of money. A road was made between Ely and Cambridge, and the system was extended to other parts of the isle of Ely.
Some twenty years after the appearance of his 'Queries' Bentham published 'Considerations and Reflections upon the Present State of the Fens,' with a view to their improvement by draining and enclosing Grunty Fen, a large tract of common near Ely, containing 1,300 acres.
The great literary achievement of Bentham was begun in 1766, when he circulated among his friends printed lists of the abbots, bishops, priors, and deans of Ely, for the purpose of obtaining materials for his history of the cathedral church. Five years later he sent out proposals for publishing this elaborate work at the remarkably low price of eighteen shillings, which he found himself obliged, however, soon after to raise to one guinea. Though the cost of the plates was defrayed by the several persons to whom they were de-
