Most probably he assumed
the pseudonym for the same reason that Dr. Paris published his
'Philosophy in Sport made Science in Earnest' anonymously--
because he apprehended that, if known, it might compromise his
professional position. For it is by no means an uncommon
prejudice, still prevalent amongst City men, that a person who has
written a book, and still more one who has written a poem, is good
for nothing in the way of business. Yet Sharon Turner, though an
excellent historian, was no worse a solicitor on that account;
while the brothers Horace and James Smith, authors of 'The
Rejected Addresses,' were men of such eminence in their
profession, that they were selected to fill the important and
lucrative post of solicitors to the Admiralty, and they
filled it admirably.
It was while the late Mr. Broderip, the barrister, was acting as a
London police magistrate, that he was attracted to the study of
natural history, in which he occupied the greater part of his
leisure. He wrote the principal articles on the subject for the
'Penny Cyclopaedia,' besides several separate works of great
merit, more particularly the 'Zoological Recreations,' and 'Leaves
from the Notebook of a Naturalist.' It is recorded of him that,
though he devoted so much of his time to the production of his
works, as well as to the Zoological Society and their admirable
establishment in Regent's Park, of which he was one of the
founders, his studies never interfered with the real business of
his life, nor is it known that a single question was ever raised
upon his conduct or his decisions.
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