lighted from above, and possessing every comfort in heating and ventilation. A handsome little village was built with houses and gardens for the workers, possessing every possible comfort and convenience. The attention of Mr. Smith was also directed to the neighbouring village of Doune, where many of his operatives dwelt, and where many important improvements of a sanitary kind were carried on under his direction. His workers were all paid on the Thursday, instead of the usual practice of the Saturday night. He early encouraged the several benefits of schools, both week-day and Sabbath, savings' banks, music bands, and holidays, long before some of these had come into general repute. Whilst he was most assiduous in the duties of his calling, he found time to be useful generally. As a country magistrate and heritor he was always found active, and his help as referee in many important cases of agricultural, mining, and mechanical disputes was eagerly sought, and as cheerfully rendered. In 1842, from some changes in the copartnership, and finding that the numerous calls for public duty rendered Deanston too narrow a field for his exertions, he left the place of his name and fame with no deeper reluctance on his part than was the keenly-felt and loudly-expressed regret of a wide neighbourhood. He settled in London, and was soon appointed one of the commissioners of inquiry into the sanitary condition of large towns. His separate reports on several towns inspected by him, and his paper annexed to the Report of the Commissioners, are models of close and accurate investigation, and clear and methodical suggestions of remedial measures far too long neglected. During this period he printed an admirable paper "On the Profitable Employment and Comfortable Subsistence of the Weaving Population of Great Britain." He visited Ireland, and delivered several practical lectures at the meetings of the Agricultural Society of Ireland, and was instrumental in inaugurating a new system of agriculture into that country, which has since been followed up with admitted advantage. In 1846 and 1847 he laboured to introduce improvements into the island of Lewis, but his success was not equal to his exertions. Soil and climate, and above all, popular prejudices, were barriers which nothing but lengthened and unceasing action could overcome. In the summer, 1850, he visited Scotland on some agricultural missions, and on the 10th June he retired to bed, after a day of great fatigue, in the house of his cousin, Mr. Archibald Buchanan of Ringencleuch, Ayrshire, and was suddenly taken ill during the night, and expired apparently without pain. His body was interred in the burying-ground of Kilmadock, within which parish was situated his favourite Deanston. Mr. Smith was below the middle size, of a robust, muscular frame. His head was large, and well moulded, with a keen piercing eye. He had a ready perception of character, which seldom deceived him. His chief aim was utility; and never did any man better earn the name of philanthropist. He never was married. He was the means of enriching many, and rejoiced greatly in their prosperity; but like most men of the same characteristics he had no selfish craving for pelf, and died rich only in the respect of good men.—H. B.
SMITH, Sir James Edward, M.D., the founder and first president of the Linnæan Society, was born at Norwich in December, 1759. He was educated at home, and appears to have shown an early love for history and botany. The latter science he began to study seriously at the age of eighteen. It was a curious coincidence that at the time he was first acquiring an insight into the nature of systematized botany, as taught by Linnæus, that great naturalist himself was dying unknown, and bequeathing his principles and fame to the guardianship of the young student. Having made up his mind to study medicine. Smith proceeded to Edinburgh in the year 1781. He there became a favourite pupil of Dr. John Hope, the professor of botany, who awarded to him a gold medal for a collection of botanical specimens. Whilst in Edinburgh he was instrumental in forming a society for the study of natural history, and was elected first president. In 1783 he came to London with the view of pursuing his medical studies under John Hunter and Dr. Pitcairn. He there became acquainted with much of the best scientific society of the day. It was at the breakfast table of Sir Joseph Banks that he first heard that the collections of Linnæus were on sale. Sir Joseph advised him to become the purchaser, and he, after correspondence with his father, ultimately bought the collection for nine hundred guineas. His original intention appears to have been to unite the profession of medicine with that of lecturer on natural history, and it was with this intention that he prevailed on his father to make the purchase. This very valuable collection was, however, on the point of being lost to this country, for the ship conveying it had only just sailed, when Gustavus III. of Sweden, who had been absent in France, returned home, and sent a vessel to the Sound to intercept its voyage; fortunately, however, it was too late. In October, 1784, the packages were safely landed at the custom-house. In the following year Mr. Smith was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1786 he travelled through Holland, France, Italy, and Switzerland. Whilst in Holland he visited Leyden, and obtained the degree of M.D. at the university. On returning to England he appears still to have contemplated practising medicine, but his scientific pursuits soon engrossed his whole attention. In 1788, in conjunction with Sir Joseph Banks, Dr. Goodenough (afterwards bishop of Carlisle), Mr. Marsham, and a few others, he founded the Linnæan Society, of which he was elected first president—an office which he continued to hold for forty years. In the same year he gave lectures on botany and zoology at his house in Great Marlborough Street, and for several successive years he delivered courses of botanical lectures at Guy's hospital. In 1796 he left London, and took up his residence in his native town. Here he continued to cultivate his favourite science, and yearly spent two months in London, principally for the purpose of attending the meetings of the Linnæan Society. For twenty years he delivered an annual course of lectures on botany at the Royal Institution, and at different periods he lectured in the institutions of Liverpool, Birmingham, and Bristol. In July, 1814, he received the honour of knighthood from George IV. His death took place on March 17, 1828. Sir James Smith was the author of many works on botanical subjects; amongst his writings are the following—"Dissertation on the Sexes of Plants, translated from the Latin of Linnæus," 1786; "Reliquiæ Rudbeckianæ," 1789; "Plantarum Icones hactenus Ineditæ," 1789; "Icones Pictae Plantarum Rariorum," 1790; "English Botany," 1790-1814; "Spicilegium Botanicum," 1791; "Natural History of the Lepidopterous Insects of Georgia," 1797; "Tracts relating to Natural History," 1798; "Flora Britannica," 1804; an edition of Linnæus' Flora Lapponica, 1791; a "Specimen of the Botany of New Holland," 1793; "Sketch of a Tour on the Continent," 1793; "Compendium Floras Britannicæ," 1800; "Flora Græca;" "Prodromus Floræ Græcæ," 1806-1813; "Exotic Botany," 1804; "Introduction to Physiological and Systematic Botany," 1807; the botanical articles and the biographies of botanists in Rees' Cyclopedia; "A Tour to Hafod," 1810; "Lachesis Lapponica," 1811; numerous papers in the Transactions of the Linnæan Society; a "Review of the Modern State of Botany," in the Supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica; a "Grammar of Botany," 1821; the "Correspondence of Linnæus," 1821; "The English Flora," 1824-28.—F. C. W.
SMITH, John, an English traveller and ambassador, was the son of Sir Clement Smith of Little Baddow, Essex, by a sister of Jane Seymour, third queen of Henry VIII. He was an accomplished soldier, and served on the continent. Queen Elizabeth knighted him, and sent him to Spain to intercede with the government there on behalf of the states of the Netherlands, upon which the Spaniards had encroached. He was the author of a "Discourse concerning the forms and effects of divers Weapons," &c., published in 1589, and reprinted in 1590; "Certain instructions, observations, and orders military, &c., with instructions for Enrolling and Mustering," published in 1594-95. There are three MSS. relating to his transactions in Spain still extant—two in the Cotton library, and one in the Lambeth library.—F.
SMITH, John, an English divine, was born in Warwickshire in 1563, and educated at St. John's college, Oxford, where he obtained a fellowship. He succeeded Dr. Lancelot Andrews as lecturer in St. Paul's cathedral. His works are—"The Essex Dove presenting the world with a few of her Olive Branches," &c., published in 1629; and an "Exposition of the Creed and Explanation of the Articles of our Christian Faith," in seventy-three sermons, published in 1632. He died in 1616.—F.
SMITH, John, Captain, navigator and adventurer, was born at Willoughby in Lincolnshire in 1579. At the age of twenty-three he served in Hungary against the Turks, and earned the praise of Sigismund, duke of Transylvania, who presented him with his picture set in gold, and a pension, as a reward for his valour. In 1606 he assumed the command of an expedition to Virginia in North America, and whilst there founded Jamestown. In the course of the war he was made prisoner
