ceiving many more from abroad, which when they come to hand L shall send you a share of; and if you will please to favour me with a list of such exotic plants as you want, I will endeavour to furnish you with whatever our Garden will afford; and I should be very glad to have either cuttings or a small Plant of all your sorts of Cistus's, which is a tribe of plants that we have very few of. "I am, Sir, your most obedient, &c. PHILIP MILLER." Chelsea, June 18, 1734. SIR, "I take this opportunity of Mr. Richardson's return, to send you a few Seeds, which I lately received from Carthagena: they were collected by a judicious Botanist, who is since dead; his name was William Houston; he was sent over to America on purpose to improve the science of Botany, which he certainly would have advanced as much as any person who ever studied that science, if he had lived a few years. There is another person gone over to . succeed him, but his abilities are far short of his predecessor; however, he will certainly send us many new Plants, since his whole time is to be employed in collecting, and in such countries where no Botanist hath yet been. When any Seeds arrive from him, I will take the first opportunity of sending a share of them to you; and in return shall trouble you for some Northern and Welsh Plants, which I hope we shall make proper conveniency to receive into our Garden in a short time; for several of those which you were so good as to furnish me with a few years since, are lost for want of a proper soil and situation, the natural earth of our garden being too light and dry, and the bottom too warm. I should also be glad to know if you want any Plants our Garden can spare; for it will be a pleasure to furnish you, and at the same time will encourage me to be more free in troubling you for such Plants as you can spare which we want. An answer will very much oblige, &c. PHILIP MILLER." Rev. JOHN MORTON* to Dr. RICHARDSON. SIR, Oxendon, Nov. 9, 1704. "I received your very kind and obliging letter, with the 20th inclosed, within a few weeks of the date. Ever since the receipt thereof, I have been abroad in the country, unless on Saturdays and Sundays; and that time was consumed in copying out my Journal, and disposing the minutes under their respective heads, * Of Emanuel College, Cambridge, B. A. 1691; M. A. 1695. Mr. Morton was elected F.R.S. in 1703; and was instituted in 1706 to the Rectory of Great Oxenden, where he for some time before had resided, probably as Curate. He was the Author of "The Natural History of Northamptonshire; with some account of the Antiquities. To which is annexed a transcript of Domesdaybook, so far as it relates to that county, by John Morton, M. A. rector of Oxendon in the same County, and fellow of the Royal Society, formerly of Emanuel College in Cambridge, Lond. 1712." folio. and and in other necessary business; so that this is the very first opportunity I have of replying, and I do now make you my thankful acknowledgements with great sincerity and respect. I cannot do less to a gentleman who has so generously invited me to a correspondence upon that part of Learning which both my fortunes and inclination have engaged me to. My acquaintance with Mr. Ray initiated me early in the search and study of Plants: from the reading Dr. Lister's books, I became an inquirer after Fossil-shells: and my correspondence with Dr. Woodward, Dr. Sloane, and Mr. Lhwyd, has supported my curiosity, and borne up my spirits all along, or indeed I had desisted from pursuing this great work. I have now proceeded so far, and have found such encouragement from the Gentlemen and Noblemen of Northamptonshire, as will certainly enable me to go through with it. My County has no Coal, or any other Mines, which I much lament. Of Quarry-stones we have a great variety, and a greater variety of Marine bodies inclosed in the Stone and Earths. If any of them will be acceptable at North Bierley, you may readily command a parcel. Have you Mr. Lhwyd's' Lithologia Britannica?' You may mention the numbers you have a mind to of the Northamptonshire Fossils there inserted, and I will send my duplicates of them, or of any others since discovered; or, which would please me most, do you go to London Sir, this winter? My town is in the road; you would be very welcome here, could you give me the honour of a visit, and then might take your choice of whatever I can spare. I am particularly obliged to you for the kind regard you are pleased to shew to my Proposals; along with this I have troubled you with 12 of them, having enough, I shall give a brief account of the principal Houses of Northamptonshire. Some of the Gentry of your County will perhaps for that condescend to look into the book. The returns, should you meet with any, may, I see, be safely made by the Bradford carrier and I should be glad of the names and titles of those who are pleased to subscribe, for of course I must print a list of them. My neighbour Mr. Waterhouse, I hear, is well; but I do not often see him. I am, Sir, 66 : Your obliged friend, and very humble servant, J. MORTON." "WORTHY SIR, Oxendon, Oct. 10, 1713. "You have herewith a small present of the Fossils of this County, with references to the names and descriptions of them in the Natural History of Northamptonshire. The references you will find noted on a small square piece of paper; with every particular Fossil its proper reference. This, though so small a collection, yet is the best I have had opportunity of making since my return to Oxendon; and I hope will not be unacceptable to you, who are very skilful and curious in this part of Learning, and have shewed that regard to the Natural History of Northamptonshire' to dispose of six of them amongst your countrymen. My Cookseller, Mr. Knaplock, informs me, that, according to your order, he sent you six of them into Yorkshire; on which you was pleased to re ture turn him three pounds; but, by the list of subscribers and of the money received and due on that account, which I had left with him, he finds it should have been 31. 10s. there having been only 21. 108. paid before; as indeed I find it to be, by your obliging letter of March the 5th, 1705, which I have now before me. This small sum of 10s. if you please to order to be paid on my account to Mr. Knaplock in St. Paul's Church-yard, it will answer his expectation. My work having had the good fortune to be favorably received by the fittest Judges in London and the two Uni versitys, I may reasonably hope you do not wholly dislike the performance. Now that work is published, I am more at leisure for the service of my friends, and of yourself in particular, who may very freely command me in any thing in my power that will be pleasing or serviceable to you. But as to the originals from whence the figures in the prints of the Natural History of Northamptonshire' were taken, they were left at London with Dr. Sloane, upon obligations he had generously laid upon me. 66 "I should be very glad, Sir, to wait on you, in this County: and do not quite despair of seeing you in Yorkshire. I frequently drank your health with my friend Mr. Buddle, and other of the London Botanists; and shall be always, with my best wishes, Sir, your very faithful humble servant, J. MORTON. Sir, having better thought upon it I send you for security this by the post, and shall deliver the basket of Fossils to your Halifax carrier on Monday next; who the next day goes from the Bell Inn in Harborough towards Halifax. J. M. Oxendon, nigh Harborough, March 26, 1705. "HONOURED Sir, "Along with this you will receive a small parcel of the Figured Stones of this County; such as they are, I entreat your favourable acceptance of. When I am more at leisure, and have got in some Collections which I have still abroad in this County, I intend to send you a greater variety and better specimens, though indeed tis a hard matter to light of perfect exemplars of some of them. Of this Mr. Lhwyd's Northamptonshire Collection is a proof. I have sent you several of the numbers you was pleas'd to mention, but shall do more as I have time. "I believe, Sir, you may pretty safely depend upon the Numbers as I have fixed them: I have often conferred with Mr. Lhwyd about them, and he has now ascertained them to me. "I am very much oblig'd to Sir Walter Hawkesworth, and those other gentlemen who have done me the honour of subscribing to my book. I received the 21. 10s.; return you many thanks for your good offices therein; and will endeavour to acquit myself s faithfully and well, as to preserve the favour of my Friends and Benefactors. I bear particularly a very grateful sense of your civilities. I will procure you whatever this County affords, if it lyes in my power. Pray, Sir, make use of me freely; for I want some further opportunities of shewing that, with very true respect, I am Sir, your obliged, and humble servant, J. MORTON. "P.S. "P.S. I can add no more at present by reason it is late, and I am to send to the Bradford Carrier to-night at Harborough. I did not know till almost just now that this was his day; but, when I heard it, dispatched such a parcel and letter as you see. I hope the hurry of my business will be an excuse for both. "Samples of the Entrochi and Coal-pit Plants will be welcome when you please. J. MORTON." Lord PETRE* to Dr. RICHARDSON. "SIR, Thorndon, Oct. 30, 1734. "I cannot any longer defer assuring you that I was very sensibly mortified that it was not in my power to wait on you when I was last in the North. I must also return you many thanks for the obliging offer you were so good as to make me, by Mr. Tempest, of supplying me with a Collection of Northern Plants; which, if it will not be too much trouble to you, I must take the liberty to accept of, having always been informed that your Collection of them is by much the most perfect of any. "I have, I believe, the greatest part of the Stove Plants, whether succulent or others, that are as yet known in England. As I understand that you are also curious in them, I beg that, if there are any wanting in your Garden of that sort, you would be so good as to command whatever you have occasion for from hence. "Mr. Tempest presents his compliments to you, and intends himself the pleasure of writing very soon. I am, Sir, "Your very humble servant, PETRE." "SIR, Thorndon, Feb. 6, 1734-5. "I am quite ashamed to have been till now without returning you thanks for the favour of your obliging letter; but the multiplicity of business which my building and other works give me is really the reason of it; and as this rather increases as the summer draws near, I must beg leave to refer you to Mr. Tempest for the affair of the Plants, Seeds, &c.; and content myself only with assuring you how much I am obliged to you, for the noble collection you are so good as to offer; and that * Robert James Petre, eighth Lord Petre, a Roman Catholic Peer, and an eminent Florist, who had a very large and fine Garden at Thorndon in Essex. This noble Lord was elected F. R. S. in 1731, and F. S. A. in 1738. In 1734, when the two parishes of West Horndon and Ingrave in Essex were divided by Act of Parliament, he generously built a new Church at his own expence; and placed over the West door of it the following Inscription: D. O. M. ET DIVO NICOLAO SACRUM, ROBERTUS JACOBUS PETRE, BARO DE WRITTLE, HORNDON OCCIDENTALI ET INGRAVE IN UNAM EX s. C. COALESCENTIBUS, POSUIT, A. D. MDCCXXXIV. He was a Nobleman of large estate and of very extensive charity; and died July 2, 1742. you you may at any time freely command my assistance in the Botanic way, as far as it is in my power to serve you, which will always be a great pleasure to, Sir, "Your very humble servant, PETRE." Thorndon, May 13, 1737. "SIR, "I have for this great while intended myself the pleasure of writing to you, designing at the same time both to send you some of our new West Indian hardy Seeds, and to desire the favour of some of your Northern and Welsh Plants, of which you were some time ago so good as to send me a catalogue; but many incidents of different kinds have intervened, to prevent my putting this design in execution till this time. Amongst other things, the death of my very worthy and much esteemed friend Mr. John Tempest* (who, if he had lived, intended to have wrote to you) has so disconcerted many things relating to my Collections, that I could not find the papers necessary for knowing what Plants to desire you to favour me with. I have put into Mr. Miller's hands for you a small parcel of my last Pennsylvania Seeds. I have raised several new sorts of Plants from those countries, and many more from the hotter climates. If any of either would be agreeable to you, I shall with great pleasure furnish you; or, as I receive from time to time parcels both of tender and hardy Seeds, if I knew in which way your taste would chiefly be, I can suit you accordingly. I have inclosed a catalogue of such of your Plants as I should be obliged to you for, all which may be very safely packed up in a box with moss. If you have any Plants growing of the Cloudberries, I should be glad of some of them. Please to order the box to be left at the Blue Boar, in Whitechapel. I must take this opportunity of assuring you of the esteem with which I am, Sir, your most humble servant, PETRE." Thorndon, June 8, 1737. SIR, "I received with great pleasure the favour of yours, for which I am much obliged to you, as well as for the Plants you have been so good as to send me, and for the trouble you are so kind to take for procuring more. Your observation concerning the growth of the Cloudberry is certainly very right, and the occasion of its not succeeding in our Gardens. I have tried it *This ingenious Ecclesiastic, domestic Chaplain to Lord Petre, died at Thorndon; and was buried in the new Church at West Horndon, with the following Inscription upon a flat grave-stone : D. O. M. HIC IN PACE EC. CATH. DEPOSITUS EST JOHANNES TEMPEST, STEPHANI Dr. Whitaker, in the "History of Craven," Second Edition, p. 88, has given a curious and entertaining Letter from Mr. Tempest, addressed to his Father from Salonica, on a return from a Mission to the East. once, |