Letter 1677

Charlett informs Sloane of Dr Peirce’s death, ‘So eminent a Person of your Faculty’. He was 90 years old. Peirce is said to have died ‘without Pain’, leaving his grandson Mr Acoure £20,000. The ‘Scotch Lord Bule’ and Thomas Skipworth have also died. Charlett laments that Mr Shipper has been chosen as ‘Principal of Brasenose College’. ‘The Earl of Berkly’ is not slated to live ‘many Months’. Charlett was elected Master of University College at Oxford in 1692 and held that post until his death in 1722. Charlett used the mastership to gain influence, especially through persistent letter-writing to numerous correspondents, sharing the latest literary, political, and scholarly gossip (R. H. Darwall-Smith, Charlett, Arthur (16551722), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/5158, accessed 1 June 2011]).