Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos to Hans Sloane – March 23, 1721/22
Item info
Date: March 23, 1721/22
Author: James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4046
Folio: f. 218
Original Page
Transcription
Brydges invites Sloane to view ‘samples of herbs and root’, one of which has useful virtues and is ‘one of the ingredients in Palm oil’. Some of the plants and herbs became ‘mouldy and rotten’ during the voyage ‘from Wydak’. Brydges asks that Sloane direct him to where ‘Snakeroot plant’ and ‘Dragons blood’ might be found. He sends ‘a little pot of the balsam, wch they call Bonebos Fair’.
James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos (1674-1744) was a politician, patron of the arts, and, like Sloane, on the Board of Governors of the Foundling Hospital. (Joan Johnson, Brydges, James, first duke of Chandos (16741744), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Sept 2010 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/3806, accessed 30 Aug 2011]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Thomas Hearne to Hans Sloane – September 15, 1719
Item info
Date: September 15, 1719
Author: Thomas Hearne
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4045
Folio: ff. 240-241
Original Page
Transcription
Hearne sends ‘three copies small Paper’ of a work titled ‘Guilielmi Neubrigensis Historia’. He asks that Sloane pay for them. The advertisement for the book is included.
Thomas Hearne (bap. 1678, d. 1735) was an antiquary and diarist. He began working at the Bodleian Library in 1701. A nonjuror, his refusal to take an oath of allegiance to King George I led to his dismissal from the Bodleian in 1716. Hearne published the works of several English chroniclers (Theodor Harmsen, Hearne, Thomas (bap. 1678, d. 1735), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/12827, accessed 2 June 2011]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Charles Preston to Hans Sloane – February 23, 1700
Item info
Date: February 23, 1700
Author: Charles Preston
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4037
Folio: ff. 372-373
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Language
English
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Library
British Library, London
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Categories
Curiosity Reports, Library, Medical, Philosophical Transactions, Scholarship
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Subjects
Balfour Library, Botany, Catalogues, Curiosities, Drawings, Stones
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Date (as written)
February 23, 1700
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Standardised date
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Origin (as written)
Edn. [Edinburgh]
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Others mentioned
Sir Andrew Balfour Sir James Balfour Sir Robert Sibbald
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Patients mentioned
Unnamed
Original Page
Transcription
Preston read the most recent Philosophical Transactions. He has some botanical catalogues for Sloane. A stone was found in a woman’s pelvis. He provides ‘figures of the stones’ for Sloane. A catalogue of Balfour’s Library is to be published.
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 18 June 2013]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield to Hans Sloane – August 23, 1719
Item info
Date: August 23, 1719
Author: Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4045
Folio: f. 230
Original Page
Transcription
[fol. 230] Bretby August ye 23d 1719
Sr
Having found benefit for my hearing by the little viol of Oyle you was pleased to favor me with, and it being now all out, you will oblige me if you will give another small viol of it to this Agent of mine to send me down by by the Carrier. I am Sr your affectionate Friend Chesterfield I have found some good by drincking the Scarborough waters but not much.
Stanhope was a courtier and politician. He retired to Bretby and spent part of his time in London (Stuart Handley, “Stanhope, Philip, second earl of Chesterfield (1633-1714)”, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26253, accessed 14 June 2011]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
James Yonge to Hans Sloane – June 21, 1719
Item info
Date: June 21, 1719
Author: James Yonge
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4045
Folio: ff. 217-218
Original Page
Transcription
Yonge had a drink with Cadogan and was pleased to hear that Sloane remembers him. He congratulates Sloane on having married his daughter to an honourable person. Yonge hopes Sloane can forgive his shaky hand, which he blames on ‘infirmity’.
James Yonge was a surgeon and physician of Plymouth with experience as a ship’s surgeon. He was a prominent citizen in his native Plymouth and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and member of the Royal College of Physicians in 1702 (Ian Lyle, Yonge, James (16471721), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30225, accessed 20 May 2011]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
John Locke to Hans Sloane – December 27, 1700
Item info
Date: December 27, 1700
Author: John Locke
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4038
Folio: ff. 113-114
Original Page
Transcription
Locke thanks Sloane for sending copies of the Philosophical Transactions throughout the year and apologizes for not writing sooner. He has been collecting information on the weather for the past ten years, which he kept for curiosity’s sake. He asks Sloane if he has treated diabetes and whether he could send information on the ailment.
Locke was a philosopher, physician, and highly influential proponent of liberalism in England (J. R. Milton, Locke, John (16321704), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/16885, accessed 24 June 2013]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Patrick Blair to Hans Sloane – May 22, 1719
Item info
Date: May 22, 1719
Author: Patrick Blair
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4045
Folio: f. 207
Original Page
Transcription
Blair acknowledges how much Sloane has done for him and laments that he must ask for another favour. He has an opportunity to ‘settle at Newcastle’ and needs money to begin a life there. He thanks Sloane for helping him when he was sick and during his troubles in Scotland.
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]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
John McBride to Hans Sloane – December 30, 1700
Item info
Date: December 30, 1700
Author: John McBride
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4038
Folio: ff. 117-118
Original Page
Transcription
McBride praises Sloane’s work and blesses his family. He recommends the bearer James Boyd, an apothecary from Dublin. McBride discusses books Sloane was involved in publishing and the Philosophical Transactions. He updates Sloane on his family’s condition.
John McBride (ca. 1650-1718) was Minister of the Presbyterian General Synod of Ulster and a religious controversialist (D. W. Hayton, ‘McBride, John (c.1650–1718)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/17361, accessed 14 June 2011]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Bernard Mandeville to Hans Sloane – n.d.
Item info
Date: n.d.
Author: Bernard Mandeville
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4076
Folio: f. 110
Original Page
Transcription
Fol. 110
Mr … perfects in ye use of your medicines prescribed all but ye … instead of which I have ordered ye diet drink and ye … alternatively, for he has but one stool a day and that not loose.
hectic and assault of fever nightly. no sweats. losing flesh.
…I am altogether of ye opinion Sr Hans, that ye country would do him more good than we can. The patient chooses Camberwell, because he has rec’d benefit from that air before. Porters might easily carry him down stairs and a house…is not very fatiguing for a hour. This fine weather I bid’em open ye windows in ye middle of ye day, and ye air seems to refresh him: he is weak but not more than when you saw him last, and to my thinking ye stamina…are yet more firm, than that he should dye by ye way: but as I entirely submit to your sagacity I shall do nothing without your assent: his cough is considerably less than it was and, what I wonder at, without any increase in ye Dysporea. A fortnight ago I pronounc’d him dying; I have often thought of it since I am not yet certain, whether I ought to accuse artis vanitatem … however I shall make no more prognosticks but con’t to be diligent in observing and praying God for more knowledge…
Bernard Mandeville (bap. 1670, d. 1733) was a physician and philosopher of Dutch origin. He settled in England and published several books and articles (M. M. Goldsmith, ‘Mandeville, Bernard (bap. 1670, d. 1733)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/17926, accessed 18 July 2014]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Charles Preston to Hans Sloane – June 13, 1699
Item info
Date: June 13, 1699
Author: Charles Preston
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4037
Folio: ff. 287-288
Original Page
Transcription
Preston returns copies of the Philosophical Transactions. He also sends the ‘memoria Balfouriana’ by Robert Sibbald and promises to send anything of interest Sloane’s way.
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 18 June 2013]).