MEMOIR OF SIR HANS SLOANE, BART. 9 



years ; and was not only zealous in the discharge of the duties con- 

 fided to him, but made the society a present of a hundred pounds, 

 and remitted a very considerable sum owing to him by the corpo- 

 ration. Sir Hans was no less liberal to other learned bodies ; he 

 had no sooner purchased the manor of Chelsea than, in 1721, he 

 gave the Apothecaries' Company the freehold of their Botanical 

 Garden, upon the following conditions, viz., the payment of five 

 pounds per annum, and the yearly offering of fifty plants to the 

 Royal Society, till the number amounted to two thousand. If it 

 were attempted to convert it to any other use, it was to devolve to 

 the Royal Society, and ultimately to the College of Physicians ; 

 but the intentions of the original donor have been faithfully and 

 liberally fulfilled by the Apothecaries, who expend a large sum annu- 

 ally, with no other view than the promotion of botanical knowledge, 

 more especially in the cultivation of curious and rare plants. Lec- 

 tures are also given twice a week during the season, which are at- 

 tended by more than two hundred students. Sir Hans Sloane con- 

 tinued a steady friend to this establishment, continually enriching it 

 with scarce and curious plants. He likewise contributed largely 

 towards the buildings and improvements of the garden ; and it was 

 principally owing to his generosity and exertions that they were so 

 soon completed for public inspection. As a tribute of gratitude, 

 the Company of Apothecaries employed the celebrated Rysbrach on 

 a marble statue of their benefactor, which is placed near the middle 

 of the garden. On the north side of the pedestal is a Latin inscrip- 

 tion, recording Sir Hans Sloane's eminence as a physician, and his 

 encouragement of botany ; and on the south side, the following : — 



They, 



Being sensible how necessary 



That branch of science is 



To the faithful discharging the duty 



Of their profession, 



With grateful hearts, 



And general consent, 



Ordered this Statue to be erected, 



In the year of our Lord 1733, 



That their successors and posterity 



May never forget 



Their common benefactor.* 



* Faulkner's Chelsea, p. 21. There is a full-length portrait of Sir Hans 

 in the College of Physicians and in the Gold-headed Cane, to which we are 

 indebted for some anecdotes ; there is also an engraving of the statue in the 

 Botanic Garden, and a view of the latter. 



VOL. V. NO. XVII. B 



