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composito, which were published in his life-time in the Memoirs of the French Academy,' and his Pl. Dipsacea since his death, with his remarks on the Institutions of Tournefort,' and some other tracts he left. It is pity they should not be printed apart, the Memoirs being dear, and not to be had easily, especially separate volumes. The Hortus Pisanus' stands me in 158. freight and charges at Custom-house reckoned. Monti's Tracts' I have several, being a present from the Author. I believe I sent you the Grasses and Monumentum Diluvianum' formerly, but I have to spare of them. I hear you design to take your Son* to Oxford next Spring, and then we may hope to see you; my Brother's Garden deserves a visit from so curious a person as Dr. Richardson. I am, &c. W. SHERARD." London, Feb. 12, 1725-6.

"DEAR SIR, "I ought long since to have returned my hearty thanks for your present, which came well, and it is not long since we ate the last of them. I expect by first occasion proposals for printing Mr. Vaillant's Botanicum Parisiense' in folio, with a good number of plates, excellently well designed and graved. Dr. Boerhaave has been at the charge, which, he writes me, has cost him 2000 guilders. I have had from Paris the 2d edition of Tournefort's History of the Plants about Paris,' published by Dr. Jussieu the younger. There is very little in it new, though in two volumes 12mo, and worse printed than the first.

'

"I had a gentleman with me this week, recommended by Dr. Delaune, his name is Williams, who has undertaken to grave all the public buildings at Oxford, in large plates and different views; he is a near neighbour to Dr. Fowlkes, who, he says, is so well, that it is thought he will marry very soon; he goes every Summer to Snowdon, and I hope by his means we may have the Subularia in flower. I design to write to him, and beg you will do the same. Here is in town a gentleman, bred at Baliol College, Mr. Brown of Shropshire, just by Wales; he is the keenest Botanist I have met with, and knows most of the Plants in the Synopsis.' Dr. Dillenius has been a mosscropping with him; he has an excellent eye. He brought up with him some Plants never found before in England, as the Virga aurea Matth. the leaves not at all serrated; Pentaphyllum palustre fol. villosis, &c. Pluk. Filix Rhæticæ, J. B. and an Astragalus I found about Smyrna, which is in Tournefort's Corollary. He is in orders, and is going home; he promises to go this Summer to Snowdon, and other parts of North and South Wales; I have desired him to call on Dr. Fowlkes, which he is proud of doing.

"It has been a terrible Winter for our Gardens, and doubtless much worse in Holland: you, Sir, too, I fear, have felt the bad effects of it. My Brother's gout has not yet left him, nor can he well expect it, unless he could keep out of his Garden.

"Sir Hans has been pleased to quarrel with me †, without reason, as every one thinks that knows his reasons for it. Patience! + See before, p. 397.

Rev. Henry Richardson; see p. 242.

one

one paragraph in my Preface will shew it was not my fault; and save me a great deal of time and trouble.

"Dr. Boerhaave is busy in writing to all countries for Fruits and Seeds of Trees and Shrubs for his Forest (as he calls it); he has sent a man into Austria and Hungary, who, with Clusius in his hand, has brought him all mentioned by him. He takes the same cure for Spain and Italy, &c. If you meet with any Berries of Juniperus alpina, pray gather some for him.

"I shall be glad to hear the Succulent Plant you mention, flowers with you in Summer; as also from Mr. Wood, when he has gathered any thing for me. Dr. Dillenius gives you his service, and desires when you go to Malham, you would please to look for the Orchis spicata you mention to grow there as well as in Wales. I had a letter lately from Signor Micheli, who has sent me a great number of the Plants of the Hortus Pisanus,' which I wanted; he now says his book will be finished in April; he is the most exact man I ever knew. I sent him lately 20l. to help his work out of the press, and must take it in copies, which will be more than I shall know how to dispose of, considering I have got him subscriptions from all the curious here.W. SHERARD." "DEAR SIR, London, April 5, 1726.

"I fully designed answering yours on Saturday, but my Brother's coming to town, and taking me down with him, put it out of my thoughts; however I hope this will be time enough to give you notice that Mrs. Wansell sent on Friday last for you three pounds of Bohea Tea. It is the same she procures for my Sister and me, and hopes you will like it. She paid 12s. per pound for it, as we do, which is cheaper by three than it can be bought in the shops. This warm weather I hope will have its good effects on you, so that this may find you pretty free from the gout. I have put you amongst the subscribers of my list for the Botanicum Parisiense,' which will be time enough to pay for when the books arrive, as I do by others. I am glad to hear the Subularia repens, &c. is like to flower with you this Summer; I think I may call it so, and shall be much pleased to ascertain that genus. Not only Mr. Brown, but Mr. Brewer and Dr. Dillenius, design to visit Wales this Summer, but they will be too early for Mr. Lhwyd's Subularia. However I have given them orders to speak and encourage Mr. Evans to look after it. "My Brother has received no seeds from abroad as yet, and last year gathered very few. Some are coming from Italy, which will serve for Autumn-sowing.

Pray return my service to Mr. Wood when you write; I hope this year will prove more favourable than the last, that he may gather the specimens I desired. I shall be glad to see his additions and observations on the 'Synopsis.' Pray let me know as near as you can, the time we may hope to see you here. I am, dear Sir, your most faithful friend, &c. W. SHERARD." "DEAR SIR, London, July 2, 1726.

"Dr. Dillenius put off his journey to Wales in hopes of seeing you at the time you mentioned, but now despairs

of

of that satisfaction; it being too late of the year to attend any longer, so designs to set out next week. I promised to be in Holland the first week of this month, but shall stay till I hear from you, which I beg may be by the first post, that I may order my voyage accordingly. Mrs. Allason goes to see her daughter in Lincolnshire, as soon as I am gone, but we will defer going if you are well, and give us hopes of being here speedily. I am, dear Sir, your affectionate friend, W. SHERARD." "DEAR SIR, London, March 14, 1726-7.

Though late, I return hearty thanks for your noble present. "The building at Oxford is finished, and I have a draught of it; it was begun on my promise of leaving to the Garden my Bibliotheca et Penu Botanicum; and I design to do more for it.

"I have sent Dr. Boerhaave all the Trees and Shrubs he wanted, that I could procure him here. There are some few in your parts remain of his note he would be glad of.

"The Botanicum Parisiense' is all printed off, only wants Mr. Vaillant's life and his picture, which will be soon done.

"I fear Mr. Wood is a faithless Correspondent; his friends here complain he has put them to all the expences he could, and now they can hear nothing of him. What Seeds I brought from Holland, I gave to my Brother, who has sent me a packet for you, which was forwarded on Friday last.

"Young Dr. Jussieu (brother to the Professor), who has Mr. Vaillant's place, is come over, to procure Plants for the King's Garden; from hence he goes for Holland on the same message.

"Mr. John Martyn, who gave a College of Botany here last Summer to several young gentlemen, goes next month to Cambridge, whither he is invited by above 20 scholars. He carries on at the same time his College here; spending April, May, and part of June there; the rest of June and July here; August at Cambridge; and finishes here in September.

"Dr Dillenius has had a large cargo of dried Plants, from Wales and the Isle of Anglesea, sent by Mr. Brewer, Mr. Green, and his journeymen there; some Mosses in head he had not before; a new Fucus or two; several Lichens, Seeds of Cistus fl. punicante maculata notato colamine, that I found in Jersey; and some others, which he will add to his Appendix. My Brother writes me, this dry East and N. E. wind has done much mischief to his Garden; I suppose he means to the Fruit-trees now in bloom. "I hope this will find you returned, and that your Garden has not suffered in your absence; at least that your own health is much improved by it, which I wish may long continue. Adieu! dear Sir, your most obliged, &c. W. SHERARD." London, July 14, 1727.

"DEAR SIR, "I wish I had known of your not coming sooner, that I might have ordered my journey accordingly; I would have gone a fortnight sooner, that I might have been here again at your arrival. I shall embark this day, and will, God willing, be back in all August; so that, if you can defer your journey 10 days or a fortnight, I shall have the happiness of seeing you. Dr. VOL. I. Dillenius

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Dillenius set out this day se'nnight, and proposes to be here again a week before me. If I can serve you in Holland, a letter directed for me in Leyden will be acceptable. W. SHERARD." London, Aug. 5, 1727.

"DEAR SIR,

"This brings my thanks for two agreeable letters, as well as for your noble present of Wild-fowl, which came sound and well on Wednesday last; but the butter was all melted, and the carrier complained it had spoiled his pack.

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"Dr. Dillenius has a close correspondence with Mr. Brown and Mr. Brewer, from whom he has received cargoes, and now expects what the last has collected this season; he goes soon for Ireland, as he says in his last. He will there find, besides Dr. Stephens, Professor at the College, another Botanist I never heard of till I saw his new book, Synopsis Stirpium Hibernicarum, sive Commentatio de Plantis indigenis Dubliniensibus instituta. Autore Caleb Threlkeld, M. D. Printed for the Author, Dublin, 1727.' It is a wretched piece. He falls foul on the Editor of the third edition of Mr. Ray's Synopsis,' Dr. Tournefort, and all Innovators in Botany.

"Your Rubes Alpinus humilis, J. B. seems only a variety; it grows as large in my Brother's Garden, but yours is smoother. I believe the Hieracium is Lawson's. The Valeriana seems by its bottom leaves to be Valeriana montana subrotundo folio, C. B. Pr.; the leaves are exactly the same as that I gathered on Mount Saleve by Geneva, where Mr. Ray found it also, and has described for new, radice inodora. I shall be glad to see Betula Platani folio: the Epimedium cannot be suspected to be out of a Garden, being, I believe, a scarce Plant in most Gardens. If you happen to see the Glaux purpurea, montana nostras Raii, pray get a little seed of it, that we may see how large it will grow in a Garden. I have no good specimen of Sideritis arvensis, latifolia, hirsuta lutea Raii, and am not well satisfied about that Plant. Dr. Boerhaave will be very much obliged to you for the Northern Shrubs; he is entirely fond of prosecuting his design of collecting all the Trees and Shrubs it is possible. Besides Mr. Balland, Physician to Prince Eugene, who writes almost every post, the Prince of Lichtenstein has sent a Surgeon to him to be made perfect in Botany, and then he is to travel through Hungary, Transylvania, Poland, and Bohemia, at his master's charge, in search of Plants for the Doctor.

"As to Mr. Wood, I think

you have answered rightly; his reputation is so bad here, he can procure nothing.

"A letter from Sig. Micheli is miscarried; however, I have let him know it, and expect to hear again in a fortnight. I believe it was to give me an account of his first volume being finished. I have by me above an hundred of his Tables, which I will send you next Friday, with the Botanicum Parisiense, which came ashore but this morning. Mr. Martyn, that has given a College of Botany this Summer at Cambridge, is about to print 'A Catalogue of Plants within a Day's-walk from London.' "W. SHERARD."

"I am dear Sir, entirely yours,

"DEAR

"DEAR SIR, London, Aug. 13, 1727. "I wrote to you this day se'nnight in answer to your last favour, in which I told you, I would send the Botanicum Parisiense,' and Sig. Micheli's Tables, the next week, which I did on Thursday last, and hope will come safe to your hands.

·

"I had a letter this morning from Micheli, who writes me he has finished his book, and that 18 sheets are printed off, but he stays for the Plants he desired out of the third edition of the 'Synopsis,' which I have neglected sending him, but now got most of them together. When Dr. Jussieu was here, I gave him most of them I had laid by for Micheli. The title of his work is, Elenchus Plantarum rariorum Musæi Micheliani,' &c. ; he says it shall be finished towards Winter; and that he has ready by him Catalogus Plantarum in Hortis Siccis Caesalpinianis, unà cum Synonymis,' which he will publish as soon as the other is done. He designed a new edition of Cæsalpinus,' with figures of those Plants that are new in him; but, having inserted them in his own work, there will be no need to do it. I send him all he desires, except a few of which I have no specimens, he promising to return those I have no duplicates of: and no man is more exact nor faithful than he is, so that I only risk the danger of the sea; and in case of losing them, I must trouble my friends to make up my collection again. "No news yet from Mr. Brewer, since he went into Anglesea, whence we suppose him returned, and at present searching the places you directed him to. I am, dear Sir, &c. W. SHERARD."

Dr. JAMES SHERARD* to Dr. RICHARDSON.

"SIR, Mark-lane in London, Aug. 4, 1716. "I lately received letters from my Brother, Consul Sherard, in which he tells me that he designs to return for England next Winter, or Spring at farthest, in order to finish his 'Pinax ;' but says that time, and perhaps too much generosity in imparting to others, has rendered his collection imperfect, especially of English Plants; and therefore recommends it to me to procure for him what rare and scarce English Plants I can meet with against his return; and particularly desires me to write to you, who, he says, he is sure will furnish me with what are most curious in the North. This assurance seems to intimate a former friendship, which I hope may in some measure excuse this freedom; and indeed the pleasure I take myself in things of this nature makes me the more ready to engage in this bold request; for of late the love of Botany has so far prevailed, as to divert my mind from things I formerly thought more material, and has put me upon making ex

* Younger Brother to Consul Sherard. He was an able Botanist; one of Dr. Radcliffe's Apothecaries; and amassed a fortune of 70,000l. The University of Oxford gave him a Doctor's degree, and expected a legacy from him; but were disappointed by his dying without Will, Nov. 21, 1741, at the age of 72. See Memoirs of him, and his Epitaph at Evington in Leicestershire, in the "Literary Anecdotes," vol. III. p. 651-2. DD 2

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