11 



a subject I think I may call the parent of yours, as 

 piety and sound doctrine must of course produce 

 charity and benevolence. 



I have insensibly wrote two sheets of paper in- 

 stead of one, and neither of them is very legible; 

 for my poor eyes are far from recovered of that 

 uneasy complaint in the lids: — reading or writing 

 always occasions an unpleasant sensation to the 

 eyes and across the forehead. 

 Dear Sir, 

 Your very sincere and obliged humble Servant, 



M. Rockingham. 



This letter and the preceding passage from one 

 of Mr. Davall's later epistles will serve as introduc- 

 tions to the following correspondence, beginning 

 sixteen years earlier than that of the Marchioness's 

 here inserted. 



The Marchioness of Rockingham to J. E. Smith. 



Hillingdon House, Dec. 10, 1788. 



The Portiandia flowers that I had the pleasure of 

 sending to Dr. Smith yesterday were, I hope, mode- 

 rately worthy of a place in an herbarium ; but the 

 first was so little so, that I was quite unwilling to 

 send it. The evening coach yesterday brought me 

 your packet, and I am quite at a loss how to express 

 my thankfulness for the extreme obliging attention 

 you have paid to my botanical library, in comple- 

 ting the works of Linnaeus by so scarce a volume, 

 which I should have despaired of obtaining; but I 



