Letter 2430

Charlett praised Sloane’s contributions to the College at his last get-together. Lord Danby (Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds) is spending a large sum of money on the development of the ‘Physic Garden’. Charlett laments that contributions to the College have declined. He is going to send Mr Whiteside to London to wait on Sloane. He notes that he received some manuscripts that belonged to Sir Richard Dereham. They are to be placed in the Bodleian Library. ‘His Grace Beaufort’ wants to study at the College. Charlett asks that Sloane keep company with a particular group of men. 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]).