Letter 0857

Lely sends brass medals and Beverland’s account of them. Charleton had been willing to buy them. Lely hopes they are worth his guineas. He discusses antiquities and their display in museums and statuaries. Sloane’s hand records: ‘July. 2. 1703. Recd. in pursuance of the above sd order five gineas…’ John Lely (b. 1674) was the son of Sir Peter Lely, the portrait painter and art collector, and his common-law wife Ursula. John married the daughter of Sir John Knatchbull (Diana Dethloff, ‘Lely, Sir Peter (1618–1680)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/16419, accessed 28 May 2015]). Sir Thomas Hardy (1666-1732) was a naval officer (J. K. Laughton, ‘Hardy, Sir Thomas (1666–1732)’, rev. J. D. Davies, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/12289, accessed 28 May 2015]).