390 A SKETCH OF THE PROGRESS OF 



351-355), are indeed the first notices of him which we have met with ; they 

 bear the dates Dec. 11 and Dec. 18, 1736. At this time he lived in the 

 Strand, and was probably, as Dawson Turner suggests, 'in the course of his 

 apprenticeship' to an apothecary. He says that he was much attached to botany, 

 and had prepared a small work for the press, which he desired to publish 

 by subscription, the price not likely to exceed five shillings. This was ac- 

 cordingly printed in the autumn of the next year, 1737, under the title 

 Fasciculus Flantarum circa Harefield s-ponte nascentium, and dedicated to 

 Sir Hans Sloane, from whom the author had received much kindness and 

 encouragement. Harefield is a parish in the extreme north-west of Middlesex, 

 and Blackstone's Flora includes little beyond its limits. He enumerates 

 524 plants, in alphabetical order, using the names of Grerarde and C. 

 Eauhin's Pinax ; special localities are given for the rarer species. The bulk 

 of the book is in Latin, but there is an English appendix. A few varieties 

 and cryptogams are mentioned. 



Blackstone's connection with Harefield is partly explained in the latter of 

 the letters mentioned above, in which he says, * I have for these last three 

 years been employ'd in making a collection of the native English plants ; 

 and having an opportunity of going to see my friends pretty often, I made 

 it my business to see as many of the adjacent places as my time would 

 permit, and to collect such plants as offer'd themselves in the course of my 

 walks, without ever intending to publish anything on this subject. But, 

 being detain'd last summer by a long illness, near four months, on the spot, 

 I found so many rare plants that I thought it worth while to make a 

 catalogue of them.'* . . . The plants there mention'd were gather'd almost 

 solely by myself . . . the catalogue is not general, being only intended as 

 an essay for a more particular search thereabout.' His ' friends ' were the 

 Ashbys, of Breakspears — at least, it was at Mr. Erancis Ashby's house that 

 he stayed during the spring and autumn of the next year, 1737 f {Sloane 

 MSS. 4038). 



In Augxist 1737, Blackstone was living at the house of Alex. Benet, Esq., 

 Maiden Ash, near Chipping Ongar, Essex, in which neighbourhood he 

 noticed many plants. 



At this time his health was bad, and he took a gloomy view of his pro- 

 spects in life ; in December, however, his health was much better, and he 

 w^as ' determined to get into business some way.' After this we lose sight of 

 him till 1740, in which year he was established as an apothecary in Eleet 

 Street, ' at the Griffin near Salisbury Court ; ' :j: and though ' trade is dull, 



* By the kindness of Mr. Pamplin we have been favoured with the loan of an inter- 

 leaved copy of Johnson's Mercurius Botanicus which belonged to Blackstone. It contains 

 many notes in his hand of the localities of plants near Harefield, bearing date 1734, 

 1735, and 1736. All, or nearly all, are printed in the Fasciculus. 



t Mr. Ashby is mentioned at p. 29 of the Fasciculus as having observed the FritiUary 

 growing at Euislip ' above forty years.' The parish church contains numerous monu- 

 ments of this ancient family, which became extinct in the male line in 1800. 



X In the British Museum is a folio tract of two pages, The Modest Reply of J. Black- 

 xlone, Apothecary, to the abusive Eejlections cast on him in a late Anonymous Paper, No 

 date. 



