116 Some Account of the late 



her two children* were carried away captives by the 

 Indians, but were afterwards redeemed, and returned 

 to Pennsylvania. 



John, the celebrated botanist and naturalist, inhe- 

 rited the estate in Darby, which was left to him by his 

 uncle Isaac. Being born in a newly-settled colony!, 

 of not more than fifty years' establishment, in a coun- 

 try where the sciences of the old continent were little 

 known, it cannot be supposed, that he could derive 

 great advantages or assistance from school-learning 

 or literature. He had, however, all or most of the 

 education that could, at that time, be acquired in 

 country-schools ; and whenever an opportunity of- 

 fered, he studied such of the Latin and Greek gram- 

 mars and classics, as his circumstances enabled him 

 to purchase. And he always sought the society of 

 the most learned and virtuous men. 



He had a very early inclination to the study of 

 physic and surgery. He even acquired so much 

 knowledge in the practice of the latter science, as to 



* William and Elizabeth. 



t My learned friend Dr. James Edward Smith, seems to speak 

 nf Mr. Bartram as an Englishman. " Bartram (lie says) was 

 sent to America for the purpose of supplying our gardens with 

 plants; and we are much indebted to him, as well as to Houstoun, 

 who discovered many rare vegetables in South-America and the 

 West-Indies," &c. Discourse on the Rise and Progress of A'alural 

 History, he. See Tracts relating to A r atural ///'.? /on/, p. 123. Lon- 

 dop: 1798. But Bartram was a native of Pennsylvania, and never 

 visited any part of the old world. Editok. 



