26 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



Yarmouth, and a complete stranger to Smith; he afterwards 

 became Earl St. A'^incent. 



On August 13th, l78i, Acrel wrote that the transportation of 

 the collections to Stockholm liad been safely accomplished ; they 

 were packed in 26 wooden cases, under government seal, so as 

 not to be opened by the Custom-house officers at Stockholm ; 

 included were 97 woodcuts prepared for Kudbeck's ' Campi 

 Elysii,' which work was almost entirely destroyed by fire in 

 1702. Smith received this letter on Sept. Gth, and wrote con- 

 cerning it to his father : — " . . . haA'ing now received half the sum, 

 the heirs had consented to forward the collection, and it was sent 

 to Stockholm on August 4th under the care of a trusty mercantile 

 friend, to be put on board the first good ship for England. 

 Captain Browell would not wait for it. Dr. Acrel says, there is 

 among the books a copy of that very rare book the 1st volume 

 of Rudbeck's ' Campi Elysii,' of which there are only two or 

 three copies in the world, almost the whole edition having been 

 consumed, with the whole towu of Upsal, in 1702. I have heard 

 Mr. Dryander say, Sir J. Banks would gladly give 100/. for it ; 

 he has the 2nd volume, and so shall I. . . ." [This was a misappre- 

 hension, see the account given ot" this work when exhibited at 

 the Officers' Conversazione, May 25th.] 



October 2, 1784. " Upon enquiring this day about the pro- 

 bable time of the arrival of the ship from Sweden, I find it may be 

 here in a day or two. Its name, ' The Appearance,' Captain 

 Axel Daniel Sweder. The cases are marked J. E. S., no. 1 to 

 26, and must be very large, as the books, which are near three 

 thousand, take up six of them only, the plants five, minerals 

 four, insects two, shells, fish, and corals occupy three. The 

 freight 80/. and 51. for the Captain's fee. I Avas at the Custom- 

 house to day, and s^aw the letter from the Treasury, which is very 

 handsome and full. All the expenses that Dr. Acrel has been at 

 on my account amount to 4/. 10s., which he det^ires I'll repay him 

 in medical books." 



The ship which was conveying this valuable cargo hnd just 

 sailed, when the King of Sweden, Grustavus 111., who had been 

 absent in France, returned home, and sent a vessel to the Sound 

 to intercept its A'oyage ; but happily it was too late. A courier 

 was also dispatched by laud to stop the vessel at the Sound, but 

 he was also unable to arrive in time. (Smith's Correspondence, 

 i. \). 126). At the end of October, 1784, the packages were safely 

 landed at the Custom-house *. 



The whole cost of the collection, including freight, was 

 £1088 5s. 



A report was circulated that Acrel had been bribed with a 

 hundred pounds to complete the sale to Smith. The latter 



* He afterwards learned from Acrel that he was very near losing the col- 

 lections "by a plot of Baron Alstroemer, who wanted to have them, and who 

 procured authority to confiscate the wliole after it was sold. How his scheme 

 failed I know not." (Smith's Corresp. i. p. 271.) 



