Sloane MS 4036, f. 72r
[fol. 72r]
For
Doctor Hans Sloane
at Newcastle House
Clerkenwell
Sloane MS 4036, f. 73r
[fol. 73 r]
Congleton March 31/90
Dr Sr
I received yrs wth the enclosed from Mr
Campbell, I heartily beg yr pardon
for not waiting on you before I left London
But I was in such a Hurry yt I had not time
We are very much strangers to news here
But so therefore will be much obliged to
you if you will spare so much time as to
impart wt may be stirring. I shall be very
much obliged to you if you will send me
any seeds wch if sent soon to me Mrs
Burton at the French Kings head
in the old exchange to be sent me by
Mrs Butterfield, and is coming down
they will come safe, or else given to my
Cozen Dunbar who is coming down & is
to be found at the Roe buck in Haymarket.
Here is abundance of wood used in this country
for Lighting of fires & instead of Candles
wch is found in mosses underground, it smells
& burns like firr, tho I cannot say it has
perfectly the grain of fir, but seems to me
[crosswise on page, left margin]
were it not for the resin to be, like it to tally, there is also
f…. .. as I am told aften [?] in digging they find fresh shoots
wch as soone as they come to the air dye, but of this, I am
a little incredulous. however I designe to see it my self.
There is also found a kind of travd [?] are a substance
Sloane MS 4036, f. 72v
much like Venus stalk except in the Greeness I doubt not tis
of that kind, I have some wch I wold send you were it not
for increasing the charge of the letter; I think this is
something more transparent, but comes of in fleakes
just like it. I am
Dr Sr
Yr most humble
Servt
Ar. Rawdon
My wife give yu her
humble servis.
On the envelope, there is a post mark (AP/2). and the remnants of red seal
Rawdon acknowledges receiving ‘the enclosed from Mr. Campbell,’ and begs pardon of Sloane for not visiting before he last left London. Rawdon asks Sloane to send him ‘any Seeds’ via Mrs Burton ‘at the French Kings head in the old exchange’. These are to be passed to ‘Mrs Butterfield who is coming down’ and can be trusted to safely deliver them. If that is not agreeable they can be ‘given to my cosen Dunbar who is coming down’. Rawdon heard rumours of a type of wood used in the country for lighting fires, which is found. Where this wood is found a plant grows that dies when it comes into contact with air. Rawdon is skeptical regarding the behaviour of this plant. He compares the plant’s appearance to ‘Venus stalk’. Rawdon claims he has some of the substance excreted from the plant that he would send to Sloane were it not for ‘increasing the charge of the letter’.
Sir Arthur Rawdon (1662-1695), 2nd Baronet was the son of Sir George Rawdon, 1st Baronet and Hon. Dorothy Conway. Arthur married Helena Garham circa February 1681/2 (George Edward Cokayne, editor, The Complete Baronetage, 5 volumes (no date (c. 1900); reprint, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 1983), volume III, page 318).
