98 
from you. If you are a stranger to these things, 
Nature does not write a legible hand, or you have 
not learned to read her writing; but I know you 
have, and that you do my great love of you justice. 
Adieu, my dear son! May Heaven direct all your 
steps, and shower its choicest blessings on your 
head ! 
For ever your affectionate Father, 
JAMES SMITH. 
Dr. Acrel to Mr. James Edward Smith. 
Vir nobilissime, Upsaliz, d. 9 Februar. 1784. 
Humanissimas tuas litteras, Londimi d. 23 De- 
cemb. a. p. datas, accepi; et licet petitioni tue, in 
mittendo catalogo rerum natur. p. def. Linnzi, ob 
temporis angustiam hodie satisfacere non possim, 
responsionem tamen differre non debui: me vero 
quam proxime missurum polliceor. Permittas etiam 
ut in scribendo me lingua Latina inserviam, dum 
linguam tuam maternam, quam amo et intelligo, 
tantummodo ad legendos libros calleam. Biblio- 
thecam Linnzanam perlustravi, titulosque libro- 
rum adnotavi: superet voluminum numerus 1500: 
exceptis manuscriptis et litteris, quas non adhuc 
in ordinem redegi. Permulti eorum sunt ligatura 
Gallica; reliqui plurimi et quidem majoris momenti 
libri bene custoditi. Defecti, uti vocant, fere nulli. 
Omnes vero ad completam bibliothecam botanicam, 
ab antiquissimis ac nunc rarissimis operibus, usque 
ad recentissima eadem, pertinent: figuris nitidissimis 
