MEMOIR OP SIR HANS SLOANE, BART. 13 



which it appears that the Mayalese, and not our most Christian 

 neighbours the French, had the honour of inventing that butcherly- 

 weapon, the bayonet. Fifty volumes in folio would scarce suffice to 

 contain a detail of this immense museum, consisting of above two 

 hundred thousand articles. The prince expressed the great pleasure 

 it gave him to see so magnificent a collection in England, esteem- 

 ing it an ornament to the nation ; and expressed his sentiments 

 how much it must conduce to the benefit of learning, and how 

 great an honour will redound to Britain, to have it established for 

 public use to the latest posterity."* 



Although Sir Hans Sloane had now for some time declined prac- 

 tice as a physician, he never refused to give advice to any one, how- 

 ever high his rank, or humble his station in society. During his 

 retirement, also, he continued to promulgate such medical discove- 

 ries as he deemed important ; and did not, like many of his bre- 

 thren, make a mystery of his profession. His encouragement of 

 learned men, whether native or foreign, commands our admiration. 

 Among the latter may be named Job Ben Solomon, son of the Mo- 

 hammedan King of Banda, who, after having been sold as a slave, 

 and suffered many reverses of fortune, found his way to England, 

 where his talents, dignified air, and amenity of character procured 

 him friends, and among the rest Sir Hans Sloane, who employed 

 him for a considerable time in translating several Arabic MSS. 

 His memory was so retentive that, it is said, he could repeat 

 the whole of the Koran by heart. Sir Hans Sloane's patronage of 

 artists is equally worthy of remark. He employed the celebrated na- 

 tural history painter, George Edwards, for a great number of years, 

 in drawing miniature figures of animals after nature, to increase his 

 fine collection of drawings, on the same subject, by other masters. 

 He also paid five guineas a leaf to M. Robert, a celebrated French 

 artist, for drawings of plants, animals, shells, &c, which are con- 

 sidered to be among the richest and most accurate of any period. 

 To those must be added two volumes on vellum, from the pencil of 

 Madame Merian. 



During Sir Hans Sloane's retirement at Chelsea, George Ed- 

 wards was accustomed to visit him every week, to divert him for an 

 hour or two with the common news of the town, and with any par- 

 ticulars that might have happened amongst his acquaintance of 

 the Royal Society, or other scientific persons, and seldom missed 

 drinking coffee with him on a Saturday. The old baronet was so 



* Gentleman 's Magazine, 1748, vol. xviii., p. 301, 2. 



