SHORT NOTES, 



SHORT NOTES. 



13 



Letters eelating to the death op Dillen-ius— The followino- 

 letters of Dr. Seidel, Dillenius' executor, were written to Peter' 

 Collinson and were formerly in the collection of Dawson Turner ' 

 they now form part of the extensive series of autograph letters 

 formed by Mr. F. Naylor : — 



Sir, — In answer to yours of the 14th inst., wherein you inform 

 me that there is a letter come for Dr. Dillenius, postage, 6 sh. Id. ;* 

 I desire you will be so good as to pay and send it down to me by 

 Smith coach, which sets out from the Black Swan Inn in Holborn at 

 4 of the clock in the morning, every Saturday, Tuesday and Thurs- 

 day. And when hereafter more letters and pacquets come to hand, 

 pray send them to me or by the post or coach, and write the charges 

 down to my account. Our late friend hath made me executor of his 

 last will. All what he hath left in money, stocks, books and house- 

 hold goods, etc, he gives to his brother at Giessen, and his three sisters 

 to each of them a fourth part. As legacies he hath given to the 

 Bodleian Library a Hortus Elthamensis, painted and bound in 

 Morocco. Anoter such Hortus to Dr. Frewin, his first physician, 

 and a third to Dr. Lewis the other physician, but this last not bound 

 in Morocco but in pastebords.f To his housekeeper he hath left 10 

 guineas, to the gardener 2, to the 2 labourers in the garden, each 

 1, and to a former servant 1 guinea with some of his cloath and 

 linnen. He hath likewise ordered me, that the expenses of his 

 funerall should not exceed fifty pounds. These are all the contents of 

 his will. He was buryed last Sunday was sevennight, in St. Peter's 

 Church, as he himself had directed. His body was carried there in a 

 hearse and followed by two mourning coaches. The pall-bearers were 

 the Yice-Chancellor, Dr. Isham, the two Pro- vice- Chancellors Dr. 

 Leigh and Dr. IS'iblet, and the 3 others, Dr. Shaw, Dr. Lewis, 

 and Mr. Pandolph, and I followed the corps as chief mourner, etc. I 

 thought you would be desirous to know some particulars concerning 

 our deceased friend, therefore I did take the liberty to write these. 

 In cash he hath left £33. 18sh., which not being sufficient to pay his 

 debts and other my expenses, his household goods and books will be 

 sold as soon as conveniently can be done. If you know who is 

 indebted to him pray acquaint me with it and assist me with your 

 good advice. I assure you of my sincere respects and remain, 



Dear Sir, 

 Your Most Humble Servant, 



Oxford, April, 16, 1747. George Seidel. 



Dear Sir, — I received your kind letter of July 23. I find among 



* This letter was probably from Linnaeus. (See a letter from Peter Collinson 

 to the latter printed in Smith's Corresp. of Linn, i., p, 18.) Dr. Mitchell 

 answered it, and his answer is also printed in the same book (ii., p. 442). 



t This copy is now in the British Museum (40, i., 9-10) with the following 

 inscription : "Gulielmo Lewis ex ^de Xti., M.D. opus hoc celeberrimum 

 propria sua manu insculptum atq. pictum moriens legavit Johann. Jacob. Dil- 

 lenius M.JJ., Botan. Prof. Oxon, April 2, 1747. Anno iEtat. 63." 



If 



