Letter 2278

John Chamberlayne to Hans Sloane – June 23, 1718


Item info

Date: June 23, 1718
Author: John Chamberlayne
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4045
Folio: f. 123



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Transcription

[fol. 123] Petty France 23 June 1718 Honor’d Sr The Secretary of the Dutch Embassador came to me some days ago, and desired to acquaint you of a Curiosity at the House of one of his Friends Mr Vernath in Ax yard in king-street Westm’r Tis 2 Pictures that put me in mind of Ovid’s Fable of that Famous Witch that cut an old Man all to pieces, boyl’d his Limbs, and brought out the Caldron a Fine, young Whole Man, thus by the help of a Steel Cilinder placed in a certain point of the set Pictures that by themselves appear to be nothing but confused strokes of a Pencil, you have a Beautiful Cupid and Venus, of whom one Fable represents the Fore- and tother the Back-parts. If they be worth your seeing, please to make use of Mr Bertins Name, or even that of Sr your most humble servant John Chamberlayne

John Chamberlayne was a translator and editor specializing in modern languages which he studied at the University of Leiden. He translated works on many topics, was a fellow of the Royal Society, and published three works in the Philsophical Transactions (Reavley Gair, Chamberlayne, John (1668/91723), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/5060, accessed 30 May 2011]).




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