278 BRITISH BIRDS. 



(Natural History of Wiltshire, p. 89) includes Muffett in 

 his list of " Learned men that had pensions granted to 

 them by the Earles of Pembroke," and speaks of him 

 as " The learned Dr. Mouffett, that wrote of Insects and 

 of Meats." 



Muffett died at Wilton on June 5th, 1604, and was 

 buried in the church of that parish. In addition to 

 Healths Improvement, another work of Muffett's was 

 pubhshed posthumously. This was his well-known book 

 on the history of insects, which he compiled from the 

 writings of Edward Wootton (1492-1555), Conrad Gesner, 

 and the papers of his friend Thomas Penny (oh. 1589). 

 This work was first pubhshed in Latin in 1634 under the 

 title of Insectorum . . . Theatrum, and being afterwards 

 translated into English was appended to the later edition 

 of Edward Topsell's (oh. 1636) Historie of Foure-footed 

 Beastes and Serpents. 



His work, Healths Improvement, to which Muffett had 

 intended to add a companion volume on Drinks, was 

 repubUshed in 1746, with a hfe of the author by WilUam 

 Oldys. Muffett was twice married, first to Jane, daughter 

 of Richard Wheeler of Worcestershire, and after her 

 death in 1600 to a widow named Catherine Brown, who 

 survived him. 



The portrait of Muffett here reproduced is from the 

 frontispiece of Theatrum hisectorum, Sloane MS. 4014, 

 in the British Museum ; C. Gesner, E. Wootton, and 

 T. Penny being figured on the same plate. 



An enlargement of Muffett's portrait and a facsimile of 

 the title-page of Healths Improvement are also reproduced. 



