Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Ralph Thoresby to Hans Sloane – March 19, 1719/20
Item info
Date: March 19, 1719/20
Author: Ralph Thoresby
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4045
Folio: ff. 302-303
Original Page
Transcription
Thoresby requests an account of the recent discovery of a large number of Roman coins. He writes of an epidemic that shook ’15 farms […] at Boston [Lincolnshire] the inhabit being all dead’. It reached Lincoln too. The symptoms were unpleasant: ‘tickling under the Eare [and] swelling in the throat’. Thoresby thinks farms were not as affected by the disease as cities. He sends his regards to Mr Chamberlayne.
Thoresby was an antiquary and topographer. He expanded his father’s Musaeum Thoresbyanum impressively, and his collection brought him into discussion with many important political and scholarly figures (P. E. Kell, “Thoresby, Ralph (1658-1725)”, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2006 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/27334, accessed 3 June 2011]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Francis Bernard to Hans Sloane – January 20, 1697/8
Item info
Date: January 20, 1697/8
Author: Francis Bernard
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4037
Folio: ff. 10-11
Original Page
Transcription
Bernard has learned of two books printed at Nuremberg. He asks Sloane to try to procure them from one of his German contacts.
Francis Bernard (bap. 1628, d. 1698) was an apothecary and physician. He worked at St Bartholomew’s Hospital from 1661 and was noted for his labours during the great plague of 1665. He was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1680. Bernard had a large library with books in Greek, Latin, French, and Italian (Juanita Burnby, ‘Bernard, Francis (bap. 1628, d. 1698)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/2241, accessed 23 July 2014]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
John Woodward to Hans Sloane – December 30, 1721
Item info
Date: December 30, 1721
Author: John Woodward
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4046
Folio: f. 169
Original Page
Transcription
[fol. 169] Gr. Coll. 30. Dec. 1721. Sr. The inclosed are the Experiments I promised you; copyd by Mr Miller. Who has also translated them; wch I judgd would be proper; if you thought fit to import them to the R. Society, wch they well merit. If they are of my Use or Satisfaction to you, I have my aim; being Sr. Your very faithfull humble Servant Woodward Sr. Hans Sloane.
Woodward was a physician, natural historian and antiquary who expounded a theory of the earth in which fossils were creatures destroyed by the biblical flood. This embroiled him in a controversy in which he was opposed by John Ray, Edward Llwyd, Martin Lister, and Tancred Robinson (J. M. Levine, “Woodward, John (1665/1668-1728)”, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/29946, accessed 17 June 2011]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
John Flamsteed to Hans Sloane – March 28, 1699
Item info
Date: March 28, 1699
Author: John Flamsteed
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4037
Folio: f. 234
Original Page
Transcription
Flamsteed claims that he has always kept up a correspondence with Sloane’s predecessors, including Dr Crown, Mr Oldenburg, and Mr Collins. He writes: ‘& I desired to have done the same with their successors. How I have been prevented you know best. I am sure I never gave any occasion.’ Flamsteed has been told that at a Council meeting of the Royal Society it was said that he spoke ill of them. He asks Sloane to testify for him if anything should happen again. The reason he does not attend meetings is because the time and day is very inconvenient for him.
Flamsteed was an astronomer, had a crucial role in the founding the of the Royal Observatory, and participated in academic debates relating to astronomy (Frances Willmoth, Flamsteed, John (16461719), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/9669, accessed 21 June 2013]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Abraham Hill to Hans Sloane – January 16, 1721/22
Item info
Date: January 16, 1721/22
Author: Abraham Hill
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4046
Folio: ff. 183-184
Original Page
Transcription
Abraham Hill (bap. 1635 d.1722) was Secretary to the Royal Society. He managed its correspondence (Lotte Mulligan, ‘Hill, Abraham (bap. 1635, d. 1722)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2006 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/13265, accessed 9 July 2015]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Charles Cadogan, 2nd Baron Cadogan to Hans Sloane – March 19, 1720
Item info
Date: March 19, 1720
Author: Charles Cadogan, 2nd Baron Cadogan
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4045
Folio: ff. 300-301
Original Page
Transcription
Cadogan informs Sloane that they arrived in Hanover yesterday. Prince Frederic ‘is indeed a wonder of his age’ and can ‘speake English so well’. Cadogan is to leave for Berlin tomorrow and wants Sloane to give ‘the Letters to [his] wife’.
Charles Cadogan (1685-1776), 2nd Baron Cadogan was the younger brother of William Cadogan, Earl Cadogan, who was an army officer and diplomat. Charles was an army officer, elected MP for Reading in 1716, and married Sir Hans Sloane’s daughter Elizabeth in 1717 (James Falkner, Cadogan, William, Earl Cadogan (1671/21726), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/4310, accessed 15 July 2013]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Thomas Hearne to Hans Sloane – February 4, 1719/20
Item info
Date: February 4, 1719/20
Author: Thomas Hearne
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4045
Folio: ff. 290-291
Original Page
Transcription
Hearne acknowledges that he received Sloane’s payment for the copies of ‘Thomae Sprotti Chronica’ and ‘the Collection of Antiquaries’, which are to be printed soon.
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 -
Thomas Hearne to Hans Sloane – January 19, 1719/20
Item info
Date: January 19, 1719/20
Author: Thomas Hearne
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4045
Folio: ff. 284-285
Original Page
Transcription
Hearne informs Sloane that he owes ‘sixteen shillings’ for the ‘four Copies in small Paper’ of ‘Thomae Sprotti Chronica’. The printed 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 -
Hans Sloane to Moise Pujolas – December 11, 1719
Item info
Date: December 11, 1719
Author: Hans Sloane
Recipient: Moise Pujolas
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4045
Folio: f. 274
Original Page
Transcription
Sir Hans Sloane was a physician, scientist, and collector (Arthur MacGregor, Sloane, Sir Hans, baronet (16601753), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/25730, accessed 2 June 2011]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
William Cole to Hans Sloane – May 25, 1699
Item info
Date: May 25, 1699
Author: William Cole
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4037
Folio: f. 278
Original Page
Transcription
Cole informs Sloane ‘Mr Gyles Bonnaford’s wife’ had shown him ‘a great rarity’. Cole sent her to wait on Sloane to show it to him.
William Cole (1635-1716) was a physician. He was a regular correspondent of Thomas Sydenham and a friend of John Locke. Cole moved to London in the 1690s to set up a practice and was admitted a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1694. In 1712 he was made an Elect of the Royal College of Physicians and shortly thereafter he retired to the country (Anita Guerrini, ‘Cole, William (1635–1716)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/5862, accessed 23 July 2014]).