Letter 2478

Balle met several learned men in Florence. He toured ‘the Garden of samples’ with Padre Tossi. Dr Antonio L. wants to become a Fellow of the Royal Society. Sebastiano Bianoli desires more contacts in England. He is already communicating with Sir Andrew Fountaine and Lord Pembroke. Balle is having trouble with his sight. The Grand Duke has a ‘noble collection’, but wants pictures of the great men of England including Lord Bacon and Sir Isaac Newton. Signor Bianchi is going to print some ‘antient Tuscan inscriptions’, which feature the ‘remanes of th’ antient Tuscan Languague’. Balle is touring Lombardy with Dr Salinis, a man who discovered a ‘Library of Manuscripts, wholy forgotten for about 300 years, among which is a New Testament of St. Isadore in Greek’. Mr Boleman purchased ‘a Grecian statue of Mercury’. Balle asks that Sloane offer his service to Sir Thomas Hewitt. Robert Balle (d. 1733) was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1708 and served on its Council in 1710 and between 1712 and 1720 (https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=1&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27balle%27%29).