Letter 0302

Courten thanks Sloane for his correspondence and puts himself in Sloane’s service. He wishes Sloane good health and hopes he returns from abroad soon. Courten promises to dispose of the seeds Sloane sent as he requested. Mr. Ashmole was in ‘ a verry weak condition and I fear he will hardly passe this winter.’ The King and Queen had left for Windsor and the ‘Princesse & Prince George for Tunbridge’. The Queen was said to be pregnant. William Courten, alias Charleton (1642-1702) was a naturalist and collector. He may have adopted the name Charleton to avoid creditors. Courten befriended Hans Sloane and Tancred Robinson while studying at Montpellier and was well acquainted with other physicians and scientists including Martin LIster and Leonard Plukenet. After his death Courten’s collection came into the hands of Sloane and the latter authored Courten’s epitaph (B. D. Jackson, ‘Courten , William (1642–1702)’, rev. A. J. Turner, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2006 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/6447, accessed 22 July 2014]).