270 
not even postage of letters, nor, what was more, 
coach-hire. I was obliged several times to have a 
coach, it being impossible (according to the exe- 
crable etiquette of Turin) to make any visit what- 
ever but in full dress ; indeed I had many great 
people to visit. Mr. de Sousa the Portuguese 
ambassador invited me to meet all the corps di- 
plomatique, and the French ambassador was very 
civil to me, and invited me to dinner; but I was 
engaged to see La Superga and La Veneria (a 
hunting-seat of the King’s). 
I left my servant at Turin ; but I have met with 
a Milanese lad, whom I esteem such a treasure that 
I shall bring him to England. He has good friends, 
and was recommended to me very particularly *. 
Geneva swarms with English people; but I have 
met with no acquaintances except a Professor 
Zimmerman, who travels with Mr. Harbord, Lord 
* The name of the Milanese lad here mentioned was Fran- 
cesco Borone. Notwithstanding his humble birth and educa- 
tion, and the situation of domestic servant, which he retained for 
several years, yet his manners and subsequent acquirements 
elevated him above the menial condition he originally held; and 
he accompanied Dr. Afzelius to Sierra Leone, and also, at his 
master’s recommendation, after his return thence, attended Dr. 
J. Sibthorp to Greece ; in both instances as botanical assistant 
and companion. While thus engaged, his existence was unhap- 
pily terminated by an accidental fall at Athens, at the early age 
of twenty-five, in October 1794. To commemorate this faithful 
and attached dependant, Sir James named a beautiful New Hol- 
land genus of plants after his name; and the letters of Dr. J. 
Sibthorp, which appear in a subsequent chapter, sufficiently at- 
test the estimation in which this young votary of science was 
held by him. 
