Letter 4530

Portions of text are obscured due to a dark spot on the microfilm. This letter is a short correspondence between Patrick Blair and James Petiver. Blair tells Petiver that “my dear [fr?]iend shall be heartily welcomd to come when he [pl]eases[.]” Patrick Blair was a botanist and surgeon whose papers were published in the Transactions. In 1715 Blair joined the Jacobite rebellion as a battle surgeon but was captured and condemned to death. He was visited by Sloane in prison in the hopes the latter might secure a pardon. Sloane was successful and the pardon arrived shortly before Blair’s scheduled execution (Anita Guerrini, Blair, Patrick (c.16801728), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/2568, accessed 31 May 2011]).