71 



^ §io3va5ljical |^otke of cSanutcl §i:ctoer, 

 t|e §otamst. 



^.m. 1670. 



By Thomas Bextges Flowee, F.R.C.S., F.L.S., &c. 



^MONG the names of the earlier botanists of Wiltshire that 

 of Samuel Brewer might justly call for respectful notice in 

 thTpages of the Society's Magazine, more especially, as it affords an 

 instance of that inconquerable attachment to a favorite branch of 

 knowledge which sometimes engrosses the minds of those who by 

 their lot have not beeu exempted from labouring in the lower and 

 mechanical offices of life. 



From information which I have been able to collect I am in- 

 formed he was a native of Trowbridge, being born in the year 1670.' 

 and had a small estate in the county. After an ordinary school 

 education became engaged in the woollen manufactory of that 

 town, where he proved very prosperous in business. Aubrey states^ 

 (temp, Jacobi II.), "■ Mr. Brewer of Trowbridge driveth the greatest 

 trade for Medleys of any clothier in England.-" After continuing 

 for some years in his trade he became unsuccessful, and devoted the 

 remainder of his life to the study of natural history — more especially 

 botany — to which he was ardently attached, and although confined 

 to business during more than twelve hours of the day, yet contrived, 

 by early rising, to cultivate a taste for his favorite pursuit. The 

 town in which he lived furnished no persons of congenial pursuits, 

 with whom he could associate, but this circumstance, though it 

 limited his progress, did not damp his ardour, and consequently led 



' Tlie follownng entry occurs in the baptism registers, in the parish Church of 

 Trowbridge : " Samuel, son of William and Abigail Brewer. Baptized March 

 8th, 1670."- T.B.F. 



« Aubrey, Nat. Hist Wilts, p. 113.— T.^.i^. 



