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"I should be glad to hear from you at Cambridge: but Mr. Vernon will be out of town, and I know nobody else; so that I cannot give you directions."

"MOST HONOURED SIR,

Oxford, June 27, 1707.

"It is high time to let you know I am still amongst the living, and heartily as much yours as I am capable. I ought (though I have inserted it in the Postman and Gazette) to have given you earlier notice of the publishing the first volume of the 'Archæologia Britannica.' I present those who have contributed 20 shillings, or above, annually, towards my Travels, with a book. I have printed before it the names and quality of the Subscribers towards those Travels; but your own and Mr. Thornton's, and some others, being accidentally omitted, they were afterwards printed, and pasted in about half the impression; which serves as well, till the next volume, when, God willing, the Catalogue may be re-printed. If you would have the books sent from Oxford, be pleased to write to Mr. William Lloyd at the Museum; and if from London, to myself at the Seven Stars in Monmouth street, London. The additional payment for each of the six books is nine shillings and six pence, besides binding and lettering, which is 2s. 3d. a book. You have been pleased to subscribe for six more, which in all makes eight books; and, if Mr. Thornton be curious to look a litle into the nature of these Celtique languages, a ninth shall be added, with hearty thanks from, honoured Sir, your ever obliged humble servant, E. LHUYD." Oxford, Sept. 9, 1707.

"HONOURED SIR,

"I found your kind letter at my return hither, for which I ought to have sooner sent my most hearty thanks. There is no haste at all for the money; and it is equal whether they be paid here, or returned by bill to Mr. Griffith Davies, Monmouth Street.

"I have, since my sending you the books, ventured the sending half a dozen to York, directed to be left at Dr. Fall's *, for Mr. Oswald †, a Scottish Clergyman, who was my acquaintance about four years since at Baliol. I writ to him then by post; but, hearing nothing from him, I would desire you, in case you have any friend at that city, to write a line to him of inquiry whether any such books have been disposed of. Scheuchzer's Itinera Alpina' will doubtless prove very acceptable to us Alpine Naturalists.

* James Fall, D. D. Præcentor in the Cathedral of York 1691; and Prebendary of Cleveland 1700. He died June 13, 1711; and was buried in that Cathedral, with this inscription:

"Hic dormit quod mortale fuit, venerabilis & primævæ pietatis viri, Jacobi Fall, S. T. P. olim Regiæ Majestati apud Scotos ab Historicis, & Academiæ Glascuensis Principalis plurimùm colendi: quem, Hierarchia Apostolica è Scotia suâ exulante, Ostracismo simul insignitum, bæc Ecclesia Metropolitica in Præcentorem, Archidiaconum Clevelandiæ, & Canonicum Residentem cooptâsse summo in honore & lucro posuit; ubi per XIX & quod excurrit annos, Confratribus conjunctissimus, pauperibus Peregrinis, bonis omnibus, charus vixit; flebilis obiit, Prid. Id. Junii, anno Salutis MDCCXI, ætatis suæ LXIV."

† James Oswald, of Baliol College, M. A. 1700; incorporated from Edinburgh.

Dr

Dr.Thorpe *, of your College, who publishes it, told me it will be out next Term. Mr. William Baxter, who is reputed one of our best Linguists and English Antiquaries, has sent Dr. Sloane a very favourable account of my book, which will be published in the next Transaction. I am, honoured Sir, &c. E. LHUYD." "DEAR SIR, Oxford, Dec. 6, 1707. "I know not whether a letter I sent you upon my return from London ever came to hand. I acquainted you therein, that I had ventured the sending six books to York, to an old acquaintance of mine, one Mr. Oswald, Curate to Dr. Fall of York. I had paid the carriage of these books at London, and have been all this while in expectation of a letter from Mr. Oswald. The grounds I had then for sending them thither was, that the Bishop of Carlisle + had taken off twenty for Westmorland and Cumberland; and that made me hope that six might go off at York; which, hearing nothing all this while from Mr. Oswald, I now begin to conclude was a mistake. I know not whether I told you before that Mr. Baxter (who is the same that has published Pindar and Horace) has written an account of the book to Dr. Sloane, which is to be inserted in the Philosophical Transactions, either now in the press, or just printed.-Scheuchzer's 'Iter Alpinum' will be, as I am told, published in a week or two. My Amanuensis, Alban Thomas, at Mr. Popin's, in the Middle-row at St. Giles's in the Fields, will receive any money for my use; and his receipt suffices. I have but just time to save the post, when I have subscribed myself, most honoured Sir, &c. EDW. LHUYD." Oxford, Oct. 8, 1708.

"HONOURED SIR, "This hopes to find you iu perfect health, and brings you the humble and hearty respects of an old friend. I writ to you some months since, and sent, as I remember, some of Mr. Baxter's letters with it; but perhaps you never received either; tho' if you did there was nothing that required any answer, further than that I should be glad to hear of your health. You would oftener hear from me, but that I seldom have any thing worth writing. Those papers should have come by Mr. Nevill junior, who, altering his design of going into the country, told me some time after, that he had sent them by another hand. I had before that another disappointment of sending you an account of Scheuchzer's 'Itinera Alpina;' having received it from Dr.Thorpe, the Publisher, in quires, some time before it was published. In the mean time I had letters from Dr. Thorpe and Dr. Robinson, to desire me to draw up an account of it, in my own name, to be inserted in the Philosophical Transactions; upon which I reviewed the book, and made it much larger, Dr. Robinson acquainting me they

John Thorpe, M. D. the learned Editor of the "Textus Roffensis ;" of whom see the "Literary Anecdotes, vol. III. p. 509.

+ Dr. William Nicolson, the celebrated Antiquary; afterwards successively Bishop of Derry, and Archbishop of Cashel. In Bp. Nicolson's "Epistolary Correspondence, 1809," are several Letters addressed to Mr. Lhwyd.

wanted

wanted materials very much for their Transactions: so I suppose they will print it in the next.-The Doctor tells me that Mr. Buddle hath drawn up a new 'Synopsis Plantarum Britannicarum;' but that he doubts whether he can get it printed: tho' he supposes it a very considerable improvement of Mr. Ray's, who, he says, wanted many things to complete his. He adds, that he improves the method, by the help of Tournefort, Rivinus, &c.; and that he often refers to figures, and corrects vicious ones.

"Mr. Ray's Observations upon English Insects, &c.' are lately given to the Royal Society; as also some other fragments observed in England and abroad; as Inscriptions, Descriptions of Animals, Minerals, &c. which it is hoped they will soon publish. "I had news last post that Langins's Historia Lapidum Figuratorum Helvetiæ' was just come to London; but as yet only two copies, directed for me, one whereof I am to send to the Royal Society. Mr. Dyer and Mr. Bobart are well and hearty. A few lines at your leisure would be exceeding welcome.-The first thing I design to publish will be only an Svo in Latin, containing an account of the method observed by the ancient Gauls and Britans, in the naming of persons and places. Perhaps you may supply me with some names of Mountains and Rivers of Yorkshire, not to be found in the maps; some of which might illustrate or confirm other observations. Are there no Irish or British Manuscripts to be heard of in all your country, or any barbarous ISS. I am, honoured Sir, &c. EDW. LHWYD.",

Mr. PHILIP MILLER * to Dr. RICHARDSON.

"SIR, Chelsea, Sept. 22, 1726. "I received yours, dated the 14th; and yesterday I received the Plants you was so kind as to send, in good order, for which you have Sir Hans Sloane's thanks and mine.

"Philip Miller was born in the year 1691. His father was Gardener to the Company of Apothecaries at Chelsea; and the son, who, in the year 1722, succeeded him in that office, raised himself by his merit, from a state of obscurity, to a degree of eminence, rarely if ever before equalled, in the character of a Gardener. It is not uncommon to give the term of Botanist to any man that can recite by memory the Plants of his Garden. Mr. Miller rose much above this attainment. He added to the knowledge of the theory and practice of Gardening that of the structure and characters of Plants, and was early and practically versed in the methods of Ray and Tournefort. Habituated to the use of these from his younger years, it was not without reluctance that he was brought to adopt the system of Linnæus; but he was convinced, at length, by the arguments of the late Sir William Watson and Mr. Hudson, and embraced it. To his superior skill in his art, the curious owe the culture and preservation of a variety of fine Plants, which, in less skilful hands, would have failed, at that time, to adorn the Conservatories of England. His objects were not confined to Exotics: few were better acquainted with the Indigenous Plants, of which he successively cultivated most of the rare species. He maintained a correspondence with many of the most eminent Botanists on the Continent: among others, with Linnæus, who said of his Dictionary, Non erit Lexicon Hortulanorum, sed Botanicorum. By FoVOL. I.

Y

reigners

:

"I am preparing a Catalogue of the Seeds I have this year saved, which will be pretty large, and as soon as it is finished will hasten it to you, with Mr. Martyn's Synoptical table of Medicinal Plants,' which he desires you will accept of. I shall be very glad if there are any Seeds in my Catalogue that will be acceptable to you; and hope to have a list of what Exotic Plants you want before the Spring, at which time I shall be glad to return your favours with any supply our Garden will afford therefore I pray you will not spare asking; for I shall take the liberty, from your generous encouragement, to be troublesome to you; and can assure you if in any thing I can be serviceable to you, you may freely command, Sir, "Your assured humble servant, PHILIP MILler." "SIR, Chelsea, Aug. 19, 1727. "Yesterday I sent by the Bradford carrier a box directed to you, in which are three sets of Doctor Scheuchzer's History of Japan,' and a few Plants for your Garden, of such sorts as I hope will prove acceptable to you; the Plants are all marked as undermentioned, but the Ficoides's. I shall send you Mr. Rand's names by next post, he being at present in the country, and having settled the names of all the sorts in our Garden according to his own fancy, so I thought proper to send them as in our Catalogue that for the future we may understand each other. I should be very glad to know if there is any of the Rubia tinctorum cultivated in your country, and the manner how it is done, for I never saw any till in Holland I met with large quantities. The particular management there used I was diligent to observe. I have reigners he was emphatically styled Hortulanorum Princeps, He was admitted a Member of the Botanical Academy of Florence, and of the Royal Society of London, in which he was occasionally honoured by being chosen of the Council. Mr. Miller was the only person I ever knew, who remembered to have seen Mr. Ray. I shall not easily forget the pleasure that enlightened his countenance, it so strongly expressed the Virgilium tantum vidi, when, in speaking of that revered man, he related to me that incident of his youth. Mr. Miller's infirmities induced him to resign his office in the Garden, a little time before his decease. He left a very large Herbarium of Exotics, principally the produce of the Chelsea Garden. Pulteney's Botanical Sketches, vol. II. pp. 244-250; where are several curious particulars of his correspondence and publications.-A monument, recently placed in Chelsea Church-yard, has the following inscription: "PHILIP MILler,

sometime Curator of the Botanic Garden, Chelsea,
and Author of the Gardener's Dictionary,

died December 18, 1771, aged 80;
and was buried on the North side of this
Church-yard, in a spot now covered
by a stone inscribed with his name.
The Fellows of

the Linnæan and Horticultural Societies of London,
in grateful recollection of the eminent
services rendered to the Sciences of

Botany and Horticulture, by his industry and writings,
have caused this Monument

to be erected to his memory, A. D. 1805."

lately

lately received a letter from Mr. Preston at Edinburgh, with great complaints of their loss in the Physic-garden; and he attributes it to the ill management of Mr. Wood, who I hear but a slight character of; but I am in hopes that Dr. Alton, who is the King's Professor of Botany at Edinburgh, will be the best Correspondent there; he seems to be a man of learning, and has good skill in distinguishing Plants, and a great share of modesty. A gentleman the other day surprized me with a fine piece, which upon reading I found you to be the author of it; the title is, if I remember right, 'De Cultu Hortorum.' Pray, if it is to be had, give me directions where I inay procure it; and if in any thing I can be serviceable to you, pray let me know, and it will be a pleasure to, Sir, your most obedient, &c. PHILIP MILLER." Chelsea, Sept. 12, 1728.

"SIR, "By this return of the Bradford carrier, I have sent you a box with some Plants, as also Mr. Martyn's first Decade, with two books from Sir Hans Sloane, all which I hope you will receive in due time. If I had known what particular Plants would have been most acceptable to you, I should have sent a larger cargo, but I beg you will give me a list of your wants, which I shall be glad to supply. I have also subjoined a list of our wants*, being about reducing the Plants of our Garden into method; if it is in your power to supply me with any of them, it will be an additional obligation to the many favours already received, and shall be thankfully returned whenever you please to put it in my power. The Psyllium I found wild last year proves to be the Kali 3tium Alp. Egypt. to whose figure I have compared it, and it exactly fits; but, as there is but an imperfect description, so we may refer our Plant thereto, having no other authority, either for or against, our so doing. If you have made any discoveries this year, I should be glad to know what they are. Mr. Wood at Edinburgh, I hear, is dead: he had quite ruined that Garden before he left it, so that I believe there is little to be had from thence. The Chamæpericlymenum I am promised by two several gentlemen of that country, with some other Plants which they brought from the Highlands. The Fragaria, although a native of the Spanish West Indies, yet will stand in the open ground very well. I have not yet seen the fruit; but I am told by the Gentleman in Holland from whom I had the Plant, that the Fruit is as large as a Golden Pippin ; and Mr. Frezier, in his Voyages, says it grows in the fields as big as a pullet's egg; I believe it will be a great rarity.

"I should be glad to know if Mr. Brewer has made any more botanical excursions, and what success he has had; if any thing new offers, if you will please to let me share therein, it will add to the obligations already laid upon, Sir, yours, PHILIP MILLER." Chelsea, April 16, 1730.

"SIR,

"I have inclosed sent you a few Seeds, some of which I hope may be acceptable to you; and I am daily in expectation of re* 24 Plants were wanting in the Physic Garden at Chelsea; and 28 were sent from that Garden to Dr. Richardson.

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