GEORGE DIONYSIUS KHRET. 317 



and made a large collection of drawings of the wild and cultivated 

 plants of Regensburg. Plis acquaintance with Trew seems to have 

 been the turning-pomt of his career, and he continued to work for 

 him up to the time of his writing his autobiography (1758). A 

 MS. Life of Ehret by Trew is in the British Museum. 



The account contains incidental references of much interest to 

 CoUinson, Miller, Clifibrt, Linnjeus, Bernard de Jussieu, and others. 

 " Linnnsus and I were the best of friends," he says; "he showed 

 me his new method of examining the stamens, which I easily 

 understood, and privately resolved to bring out a Tabella of it." 

 Miss Barton adds an interesting note, partly taken from Trew's MS. 



" This table or plate is printed on a half sheet, and contains 

 24 figures of the different numbers and connections of the stamens 

 with the pistils. It was first published in Linn;BUs's ' Genera 

 Plantarum,' first edition, Leyden, 1737, and is entitled ' Caroli 

 Linna^i Classess (sic) Liter^e.' The letters of the alphabet are used 

 in the original drawing ; but in the engraving they are replaced by 

 figures. Ehret's name is omitted from the engraving. This plate, 

 very badly copied, and, as is the custom with engravers on copper, 

 very carelessly reversed, and without Herr Ehret's name, is also to 

 be found in the edition of this work which was brought out at 

 Leipzig in 1728 in 8vo after the sixth book-fair ; but in the copy of 

 the same edition which I possess the plate is omitted. The original 

 drawing of the Linuean classes is preserved in the Botanical De- 

 partment of the British Museum. It is signed ' G. D. Ehret, Fecit 

 et edidit. Lug. Bat. 173G.' This drawing came into possession of 

 the British Museum with a collection of Ehret's sketches and 

 drawings." "With this Tabella," adds Ehret, "I earned some 

 money ; for I sold it at 2 Dutch gulden apiece ; and almost all 

 the botanists in Holland bought it of me." His account of Linnteus 

 is not very complimentary to the great Swede : " When he was a 

 beginner he appropriated every thing for himself which he heard of, 

 to make himself famous." 



When Ehret came to England, his principal friend was Dr. Mead, 

 the Royal Physician. He married Susanna Kennet, a sister-in-law 

 of Philip Miller, and found plenty of employment in illustrating 

 such works as Brown's History of Jamaica, Hughes's lUstori/ of 

 Barbadocs, and Russell's History of Aleppo. In 1750 he was ap- 

 pointed to the Oxford Botanic Garden through the influence of 

 Humphrey Sibthorp, who, however, says Ehret, "became exceed- 

 ingly jealous of me because I was more thought of in botany than 

 himself." Ehret retained this post only a year. He had before 

 accepting it begun to give lessons in flower-painting " to the highest 

 nobility of England," and the remainder of his life was devoted to 

 this work. In 1757 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. 



It is unnecessary to speak of the extreme beauty and accuracy 

 of Ehret's botanical drawings, but it may be worth while to men- 

 tion that the Botanical Department is fortunate in possessing a 

 large number of these, which should not be overlooked by those 

 interested in matters of this kind. 



We are indebted to the Council of the Linn.ean Society for 



