Letter 1369

Preston believes his letters have not reached Sloane, for he has not received a reply in some time. He asks Sloane to help a young medical student find his way in London. He encloses some poems for Sloane’s pleasure. Preston was a physician and botanist who established a lengthy correspondence with Sloane, exchanging plants, seeds, books and information. His main interest was in botany, and was well-known by his contemporaries for his botanical knowledge (Anita Guerrini, Preston, Charles (16601711), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/47084, accessed 1 June 2011]).