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and as many as he has been able to procure about London.

I wrote two letters last post to Italy, to enquire about Sigre Micheli; and desir'd my brother, in his way to Rome, to let him know how much he disobliges his subscribers, and me in particular.

I had a letter on Tuesday night from Mr. Chambers, who writes, the books were sold so extravagantly dear at the auction, that he cou'd buy nothing for you; but hopes to find them much cheaper, which I doubt not but he will. I sent commissions for several, but had but one, which I ordered to be bought, cost what it wou'd: 'tis Oviedi's Naturall History of the West Indies, in Spanish, which I once had, but let Sir Hans Sloane have it, at a cheaper price than I payed for it.

At the end of the Synopsis will be added a Catalogue of dubious plants, out of Merrett, Lobell's Illustrations, Phyt. Brit., &c. which, being plac'd together, will be more obvious to the curious who are desir'd to look after them. I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year, with many more

of them.

I am, dear SIR,

Your most affectionate friend and humble serv*,

W. SHERARD.

P.S. I have heard nothing from New England this autumn: one vessel was cast away on the

French coast, but several are yet expected. Nothing more from Carolina: one vessel from there has been also lost on our coast, the late storm.3

LETTER LXXXII.

Dr. Sherard to Dr. Richardson.

LONDON, June 30th, 1724.

DEAR SIR,

YOUR last of the 18th past, ought to have been answer'd sooner, for which I beg pardon. I'me glad your correspondence with Mr. Wood is so well settled, and hope to see something from him by your means.

3 This observation is made without any intention of throwing blame upon Catesby, with whom Sherard expresses himself at all times well satisfied, and from whom, in some letters not here extracted, he acknowledges the receipt of dried plants; while, in one of them, he laments that Mr. Catesby has been ill and kept his room above three months, in the proper season for collecting fruits and seeds. On the other hand, Sherard was now beginning to feel dissatisfaction relative to Moore "I have heard nothing yet from the Pilgrim Botanist, which I admire at. Col. Dudley wrote word he was gone up into the country, to visit his old acquaintance, the Indian Kings, that were in England. I had rather he would first send what grows near Boston; but they have all a notion that, the further they go, the more rare things they find.”

The Synopsis will be finish'd in a week's time: there are in it two Fuci I should be glad to see: the one is the latissimus Scoticus,' mentioned by Caspar Bauhin; the other Dr. Martyn told me of— he says 'tis call'd Pepper Dulesch.2

Mr. Moore is now in England, but returns speedily, and promises to follow my instructions for the future, better than he has hitherto.

I heard lately from Mr. Chambers, and answer'd his letter last week: he staid for the Ribes Arabum3 flowering, which it will not this year: I expect to see him here in all next month.

If Magnol's Character Plant. be in Holland, I desir'd Mr. Chambers to buy one for you.

I have receiv'd Dr. Tilli's Catalogus Plantarum Horti Pisani, in folio, with fifty plates, and have wrote to send over some copies. Sigre Micheli, by the Grand Duke's order, spent eighteen months in assisting him, which has hindered the publishing his book; but 'tis now in the press, and I believe will be in two parts: he has sent me half a sheet, to see the form, which is large 4to., well printed. I have one hundred and sixteen plates by me, which will be too much for one volume; so I think 1 Fucus esculentus. Huds. 2 Fucus pinnatifidus. Huds. 3 Rheum Ribes, L.

4 The title of this, which was a posthumous work and edited by his son, Anthony, was, Novus Character Plantarum, in duos tractatus divisus. It appeared in 1720, at Montpellier, where its author, Peter Magnol, had been professor.

he will publish his Nova Genera first. After these, he designs to print his Voyages in Italy and Dalmatia, with a Critique on Barrelier and Bocconi, which I shou'd be glad to see. The Botanick Society, at Florence, have undertaken the new edition of Casalpinus.

My brother has been return'd above a month, in good health, and well pleas'd with his journey: he came with me this morning from Eltham, and sends his service to you and your lady; as does my sister also, whom I told I design'd to write to you. to-night.

I hear young Dr. Jussieu's Catalogue of the Plants about Paris" is almost finish'd: he talks of coming hither, as soon as the Demonstration is

over.

I am, dear SIR,

Your most obliged humble servt,

W. SHERARD.

5 What is here alluded to was not a new work, but a reprint of Tournefort's on this subject; and that he did edit the following year. So much was it esteemed, that, in 1732, it was translated by Martin into English, and printed at London. Bernard de Jussieu appears in this publication to have been actuated by hostility to the memory of Vaillant, of which, Boerhaave, the possessor of his papers, was aware, and had consequently accelerated the appearance of the Prodromus of the Botanicon Parisiense, by way of preoccupying the ground; as Sherard had apprized Dr. Richardson in a letter, dated April 25th, 1724. Some exceedingly curious matter has been printed by Sir James Smith, (Linnæan Correspondence, II. p. 277,) in a letter from Linnæus to Haller, touching the quarrel between these two

LETTER LXXXIII.

Dr. Dillenius1 to Dr. Richardson.

LONDON, August 1st, 1724.

HONOURED SIR,

THE Synopsis Stirpium Britanniæ being lately finished, I intended to send you a couple of books; but Consul Sherard having some other

Botanists, in which Dillenius appears, from the Hortus Elthamensis, to have taken a part very gratuitously. But Vaillant was dead; or the Oxford Professor might have found to his cost, that

"They who in quarrels interpose,

Will sometimes wipe a bloody nose."

'Tis sad, 'tis very sad, that a science which, above all others, ought to lead to good feeling and harmony, should be disgraced by the squabbles of its professors. But enough, and more than enough, on such a point.

1 Dillenius, whose name is familiar to every student of Cryptogamic Botany, and whose Historia Muscorum is a treasure of botanical learning and criticism, as well as of specific discrimination, was born at Darmstadt, in 1634 or 1635. He was educated as a Physician at Giessen, and, while resident there, published several Botanical Essays, of considerable acuteness, in the Ephemerides Acad. Nat. Curiosorum, as well as a small 8vo. volume, entitled, Catalogus Plantarum sponte circa Gissam nascentium, printed in 1719. After having been brought to England by Consul Sherard, as stated in these letters, he remained here from August, 1721, till his death in 1747. During the greater part of this time he was resident with the Sherard family, and, in the course of it, published a description of the plants in Dr. James Sherard's garden, at Eltham, under the title of Hortus Elthamensis; a splendid work in two folio volumes, the plates of which, like those of all

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