tor, or he me, though we have lived both in London; and it is to be questioned, were the Doctor to see me now, whether he would know me: wherefore I cannot but promise myself, from the Doctor's honour, that, when he is informed of his mistake, he will readily be inclined to rectify it. And now, my good friend, I must ask your pardon for this long story, of which you may make what use you think proper. I am your most sincere humble servant, C. DEERING. Thus far is literally in Dr. Deering's own words. What follows is stated also from good authority. In 1736, Dr. Deering removed to Nottingham, under the recommendation of sir Hans Sloane; and was at first well received, and very successful in his treatment of the small pox, which disease was highly epidemical at that place soon after his arrival; but he incurred the censure of the faculty by his pretensions to a nostrum. In 1737 he published "An Account of an improved Method of treating the Small-pox, in a Letter to Sir Thomas Parkyns, Bart."* Dr. Deering shewed his attachment to botanical pursuits, by his assiduity in collecting such ample materials for his "Catalogue," in less than two years after settling at Nottingham. It was published under the title of "A Catalogue of Plants naturally growing and commonly cultivated in divers parts of England, more especially about Nottingham, &c. printed by George Ayscough, 1738," Svo. The By this tract, it appears, that his medicine was of the antiphlogistic kind, and that he was one of the first who introduced the cool regimen. † Mr. Dowland possesses the Author's interleaved copy of the work, with several corrections and a few additions by Dr. Deering, and some additions also by Mr. John Bird, apothecary at Mansfield. This Copy (besides the Dedication to the Duke of Newcastle, Francis Lord Middleton, Mundy Thomas Masters, Esq. and the Mayor of Nottingham) has a printed " Occasional Dedication to William Griffiths, Esq. one of the Elder Lieutenants of his Majesty's Royal Navy." arrangement arrangement of this useful work is alphabetical, and the number of plants about 850. It might have been greatly enlarged and improved by the author, had he been endowed with some degree of prudence, or a happier temper; but, owing to the want of these, he very early lost the little interest which his character and success had at first gained. He was a man of great learning, and master of nine languages, ancient and modern. He would observe "that every little schoolmaster could maintain himself, which was more than he, with all his knowledge, could do." He had also a knowledge of designing, and was an ingenious mechanic. After his failure in the practice of medicine, his friends attempted several schemes to alleviate his necessities; but such was the pride of his spirit, that receiving half a guinea from Mrs. Turner, a Lincolnshire lady, who then boarded in Nottingham, by the hands of his landlord, the only answer he then made was, "If you had stabbed me to the heart I should have thanked you, but this I cannot bear." He lived but a short time after. Before his last illness his friends bought him an electrical machine, whereby he got a little money; and he was made an Ensign, Oct. 29, 1745, in a company of foot raised during the Rebellion, but this was only an expence to him. He used to say "all his helps hurt him, as being attended with more cost than profit." He was afterwards employed in a way more agreeable to his genius and talents; being furnished with materials, and enabled, with the assistance of John Plumptre, esq. and others, to write "The History of Nottingham;" which, however, he did not live to publish. He had been troubled with the gout so early as in his 19th year; and in the latter stage of his life he suffered long confinements in this disease, and became asthmatical. Being at length reduced to a degree of poverty and dependence, which his spirit could not sustain, oppressed with calamity and and complicated disease, he died April 12, 1749. He was then so poor that there was not a sufficiency to bury him, and the Corporation were about to take his few effects for that purpose, when Mr. George Ayscough, printer, and Mr. Thomas Willington, druggist, at Nottingham, administered as his principal creditors, and buried him genteelly in St. Peter's church-yard, opposite to the house where he had lived. His "Nottinghamia Vetus et Nova," or History of Nottingham, was published by his administra tors *, in 1751, 4to, embellished with 24 plates. He wrote a book on Heraldry, so far as is necessary for a Gentleman; a treatise, in Latin, " De Re obstetricariâ ;" and several detached pieces in German, Latin, and English; but none of these have been printed. He left also a Hortus Siccus of the Plants in his " Catalogue;" and a volume of Paintings of the Fungi, by his own hand. * In the Proposals for this Work, dated July 17, 1750, the Editors say, "This Book, which will be not only very useful to the Inhabitants of this Town in general, but also very entertaining to the curious Stranger, is to be printed in Quarto, in London, on a good Demy Paper, as these Proposals are, in Casland's [Caslon's] Types, of the size of Dr. Stukeley's Antiquities." Mr. Dowland has a copy in Dr. Deering's hand-writing of an unpublished account of Nottingham, by an anonymous Author, fre quently mentioned by the Doctor in his History of Nottingham. Mr. Dowland has also the original Drawing of The Shepherd's Race; an engraving of which was to have accompanied Dr. Deering's volume; and a small copy of which has been given in Throsby's Nottinghamshire. This relick of Antiquity was destroyed in consequence of the lordship of Sweinton having been inclosed by an Act of Parliament, about the year 1745. † One of the most remarkable articles in this volume is, a complete description of that curious machine, the stockingframe, invented upwards of two centuries ago by William Lee, M. A. of St. John's college, Cambridge, a native of Woodborough, near Nottingham. All the parts are separately and minutely described in the technical terms, and illustrated by two views of the whole, and by a large table, delineating with great accuracy every constituent part of the machine. Some part, if not the whole, of this collection, was purchased by the Hon. Rothwell Willoughby, who had been one of his benefactors when living, and inherited a portion of that taste which distinguished his family in the time of Mr. Ray. LORD |