nearer our own age, the excellent Mr. Lhwyd, Mr. Petiver, Mr. Dale, Dr. Sherard, Dr. Robinson, and Sir Hans Sloane, who are Buy Ev yos, removed from this to a better life; though we, who are by the providence of Almighty God left behind, cannot forbear remembering so many worthy persons, and reflecting with a sort of tender melancholy upon the pleasure and profit with which our acquaintance with them was attended, and the agreeable conversations we have had in their company*. "As Natural History was always the study to which my mind was most turned, I have, during my residence abroad, made a very considerable Collection of all the curious things in Nature I could come to the knowledge of, which that part of India where I resided afforded. I have collected innumerable Specimens of Plants, and have disposed them in six large Horti sicci: among these are a great many Non-descripts. I have likewise made a good Collection of Insects, Fishes, &c. which are partly dried, and partly preserved in spirits. Of Shells I have good store, many of them very fine: and have not neglected Antiquities; but have collected a great number of Pagods, Amulets, and other curiosities of the kind, which the country afforded. Of many of these I have duplicates, which I am persuaded will be agreeable to you, *The person to whom this Letter was addressed died in April 1741; and the following answer was returned by his son, Richard Richardson, Esq.-But no reply to it was ever received; nor could it ever be made out whether it was a real or fictitious name. "SIR, North Bierley, near Bradford, May 2, 1758. "I was favoured with your letter, and wish it was in my power to make a return as acceptable to you as yours was to me. But how impossible is that, when I am obliged to give you the unwelcome account of my Father's death, which was in April 1741, in the 78th year of his age, probably very soon after his last letter to you, as he had but a short illness. You will allow me, Sir, I hope, to esteem it a fortunate mistake, that bas brought me to the knowledge of so valuable a friend of my Father's, and one whose taste for Natural History is so agreeable to my own. I have the works of many of the learned men you mention, and had the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with Sir Hans Sloane for some years before his death. I conclude you have been informed that his vast Collection of Natural Curiosities, Antiquities, &c. are deposited in Montagu House, Great Russel Street, and now called The British Museum.-My Greenhouse and Stove are both at present pretty well furnished; and there have been great additions of hardy Plants, particularly from North America, I imagine since you left the kingdom, which add great beauty to our Gardens. I was so lucky a few years since as to meet with a Collection of dried Plants, which a gentleman of my acquaintance had taken indefatigable pains in collecting; the Sea-plants and Mosses remarkably well preserved. As to Antiquities, I bave some Cameos and Intaglios, a few Greek and Consular coins, a series of the Roman Denarii in good preservation, a tolerable Collection of English Coins from the Conquest, and some Saxon. I have also a fine Tuscan Vase, lately found in the Herculaneum, with a few other Antiquities.-What shall I say in regard to the generous offer which you imagined was addressed to my Father? can I hope you will extend your friendship to his Son? If so, I must assure you that the favours will be received with the highest sense of gratitude; and I am, with good wishes for the continuance of your health in your native country, and with great respect, Sir, RIC "Your very humble servant, and shall send them to you in the manner as you shall direct. But this, my dear friend, is only in the mean time to satisfy your curiosity, for I intend to order it so, that, if it be God's will that you outlive me, you shall have the best part of the whole Collection; and if any of your Relations are curious in that way, it will be very lucky, to prevent their being dispersed; for none of my Relations have any relish at all for these things, and any thing I leave them will be sold for their profit, which indeed I would not restrict them from, for it is better that such things fall into the hands of people who have knowledge, though they should be dispersed, than that they should remain with persons who put no value upon them. 66 "I beg you would let me hear from you as soon as possible, which I do assure you will be a great comfort to me; and let me know how I can send you the specimens I mentioned above. If you direct for me to the care of Mr. David Wilson, Bookseller, opposite to York buildings in the Strand, it will be sure to come to my hands. In the mean time believe me to be, with the greatest truth and sincerity, my dear and much esteemed friend, "Your most affectionate humble servant, HUGH JONES." Rev. Dr. CHARLES LEIGH* to Dr. RICHARDSON. "HONOURED SIR, "Since my return home, I have been so hurried from one place to another, in making my observations since the publishing of my Proposals, that I have scarce had one leisure hour; but have now nothing to do but to print; and, in order to that, in a fortnight's time will be for London, and employ five presses, and so put a speedy period to that matter, I have not observed Stones to be transmuted to a different substance; but have seen petrifying waters from the stalactites present us with the figures of Plants, Men, Shells, and Animals. In what I can be serviceable, you may be assured, that I shall be proud of communicating my thoughts to you, and shall ever remain "Your most humble servant, * Author of " Phthisiologia Lancastriensis, cui accessit tentamen philosophicum de Mineralibus Aquis in eodem Comitatu observatis. Lond. 1694," 12mo. the best part of which is incorporated into his "Natural History of Lancashire, Cheshire, and the Peak, in Derbyshire with an account of the Phoenician, Armenian, Greek, and Roman Antiquities in those parts, Oxford, 1700" folio, in which his account of Lancashire is the fullest; what he says of Derbyshire being only a trite and trifling account of its wonders. Bishop Nicolson speaks of both with deserved contempt. The coins described in Leigh's book were left to Mr. Prescot of Catharine ball, with the torquis, which is very fine, by an uncle who lived at or near Chester, and died there about 1776."-Gough's Brit. Topog. I. 494. Mr. EDWARD LHWYD* to Dr. RICHARDSON. "WORTHY SIR, Oxford, December 3, 1691. I return you many thanks for your obliging letter, and for the books you were pleased to send me. Your discoveries are very considerable; and nothing can be more acceptable than patterns of some of them, whereof (since you are pleased to invite me to it) I shall make bold to give you a catalogue. 1. pium palustre minus cauliculis procumbentibus ad alas foridum. Hort. Lugd. Bat. 2. Assarina Matthioli planta persimilis si non ead. 3. Caryophyllata montana lutea, nutante flore. Hort. Reg. Par. 4. Conyza Panonica lanuginosa, C. B. Pin. 5. Ribes Alp. dulcis. J. B. 6. Sedum palustre subhirsutum cæruleum. C. B. 7. Thlaspi folio globularia. J. B. 8. Vicia minor hirsuta flore minimo rubente. Sutherlandii. "Edward Lhwyd was one of the most learned and celebrated Antiquaries of the 17th century, and a skilful Naturalist. According to Mr. Wood, he was the son of Edward Lhwyd, or Lloyd, of Kidwell, in Carmarthenshire; but, as Boyer relates, of Charles Lhwyd, of Lanvordia, in Salop, Esq. He was born in 1670, and became a student of Jesus College, Oxford, in 1687, of which Dr. Plot was a member, and under whom Mr. Lhwyd was in a great measure educated. On the resignation of Dr. Plot, he succeeded him as Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, about 1690. He travelled repeatedly all over Wales; went through the North of Scotland; into Ireland, in which kingdom he seems to have made some considerable abode. He spent some time in Cornwall, and in Britany in France, in search of Antiquities, and materials to carry on the extensive designs he had formed. In all these journeys he was constantly attentive to the objects of Natural History, Fossils, Plants, and any remarkable phænomena of Nature. Such of his remarks as are published in the Philosophical Transactions are full of curious and new information on these subjects. His knowledge of the Plants of his own country, and particularly those of Wales, justly entitles him to remembrance. Lhwyd first brought to light several of the rare Plants of Wales; many of which, till of late years, were considered as Natives of no other part of Britain. He discovered several very scarce species in Cornwall: all these be communicated to Mr. Ray, who inserted them in the editions of his Synopsis, with due acknowledgements, After having made very large Collections for the Antiquities of Wales, and formed great designs in Literature, he died, before he could digest them into order for publication, in July 1709. Exclusive of large communications made to Bishop Gibson's edition of Camden, on the antiquities of Wales, he formed, from the fruit of his own investigations, the List of Plants subjoined to the account of that country.— From private information I have learned that Mr. Lhwyd left a very considerable library, a large collection of manuscripts and specimens ; and that, in 1728, these were all in the custody of Dr. Fowlkes, of Lhanher, who died soon after that time. They were undisposed of ten years afterwards; but the printed books, which were of great worth, had been valued by a gentleman and two booksellers, and the refusal of them offered to the Duke of Bedford." Dr. Pulteney, vol. II. pp. 110-114; where see an ample account of his publications. 9. Cha J. B. 9. Chamacistus nontanus foliis pilosellæ minoris Fuchsii. 10. Leucoium lunatum vasculo sublongo intorto. R. Syn. Meth. ij Calceolus Mariæ Park. "Mr. Ray has lately discovered about 40 new Mosses in his own neighbourhood; and he tells me Mr. Dale has found out an Alga graminea seminifera, bearing seeds in the middle of the leaves, which open when they are ripe. These seeds are shining solid seeds, like those of Land-plants.-He has in the press a very curious discourse about the dissolution of the world. "If your neighbourhood affords any formed Stones, I beg that you would please to communicate some of them, for I have been persuaded by Doctor Lister and Mr. Ray to put into some order what observations I have made in that kind. "Mr. Giles, of University, drowned himself last Tuesday, and was buried yesterday. He was observed to be melancholy long before. Your letter was brought to me last Saturday, but the bearer said it should have come a month sooner: the second part of it being not dated, I know not what time it spent by the way. "Being in some haste to save the post, I can say little more at present than to assure you that, if you can give me any directions how I may be serviceable to you in any part of Natural History, you shall find none of your Correspondents more ready than, your most humble and obliged servant, EDW. LHWYD. "DEAR SIR, Oxford, June 8, 1701. "I scarce hope this can overtake you before you have entered the campagne : however, let it take its fortune. I have been in such a hurry most of my time since my return, partly in restoring the things of the Museum, which I found in some confusion, to their old places, against our Visitation, which is yearly on Trinity Monday; and partly in methodizing my own Collec tion of Fossils from Wales and Ireland, which is almost equal to that which is printed; but they chiefly excel in Coal-plants, Lithostrotia, and Modioli of Fossil-stars. I have turned by several for you as they came to hand: but I have not yet gone through all; and shall not, I believe, these two months; for Mr. Cole of Bristol, who these many years has promised us his Museum, is very importunate with me to visit him at his country-house for a week or fortnight, which is in Wiltshire, a day's journey hence. I hope you have received ere this, dried samples of the Irish Plants I formerly mentioned. The carrier told me, you had the few Seeds, though not in due time; I wish they had been more, and better; but we came out of Ireland too soon, and the Tories of Kil-Arni in Kerry obliged us to quit those mountains much sooner than we intended. The Northampton carrier told me he sent the Seeds by one Arthur; and I believe the Plants might be delivered to the same. I need not say any thing about their names; however, having sent the same to Dr. Sherard, the notions he returned ine of the rarest of them (which, it seems, he had also met with beyond-seas) may be of some consequence. "Sir, I heartily wish you good success on Ingleborough, &c.; and at your return, when you are at leisure, nothing can be more welcome than a few lines (with specimens of any Northern Plants, Wales and Ireland have not yet afforded) to, most honoured Sir, your ever obliged humble servant, EDW. LHWYD." "DEAR SIR, Oxford, July 17, 1702. "This hopes to find you in perfect health; and begs a few lines, of account of it, &c. at your leisure. Not hearing from you when I was in Gloucestershire, I concluded you would return through Cambridge before the time I mentioned; so have put off my going thither myself; this being the main harvesttime at the Museum. In the mean while Mr. Vernon* has been to visit us here, with whom, amongst other friends, we took occasion to remember you several times. You found, I suppose, that both he and all the Virtuosos of the South, are fully persuaded that the Marine Fossils and Coal-plants are the effects of the Deluge; so I should be glad to know whether they shewed you such specimens, and proposed such arguments, as have convinced you of it likewise. I know not whether I ever recommended to your curiosity, the examining of the Stalactite, or Dropping-stone, of the Limestone caves, for Entrochi, &c. I do assure you that I have found large and small Entrochi in it in Ireland; which with me is little less than demonstration that some of these bodies are formed in the ground where we find them; and if some be, we may bid fair for the rest. "You have heard, I presume, ere this, that our friend Dr. Sherard is made Commissioner for the Exchange of Prisoners, and for the Care of the Sick and Wounded; which places, Mr. Bobart tells me, are worth about 300l. per annum. "I suppose Mr. Petiver has sent you the first ten Tables of Gazophylacium Naturæ. I suppose there are more of them done, but as yet we have not received them. He writes me word that his sixth figure of Table 4. is from China, which I took at first sight not to differ from my Stella rubra geniculata Cornubiensium quinis radiis pannatis ab exortu bifidis, whereof I think I sent you a pattern; but, on a further view, I find his has thirteen radii. I hear nothing of Mr. Ray's Supplement, which I am afraid Smyth and Walford+ will be very slow in undertaking; nor of his 'Methodus nova reformata', which Dr. Sherard told me long since was printing in Holland.-We are come to no issue yet with Mr. Cole of Bristol's Executor, though the Vice-Chancellor keeps him still in suspense: but in the mean time the Collection, I fear, is daily diminished. I expect Mr. Stonestreet here this night, with a cargo of what Fossils he guesses may be acceptable here, and some Echini and Sea-stars. He makes but a short stay; and as soon as he is gone, I design for Cambridge, where I shall probably continue a month, and then return hither, where I hope to be welcomed with a letter from you. EDW. LHWYD. *Of Peter-house, Cambridge; see p. 239. "I should |