148 



On the first establishment of the British Museum, he was 

 most active in furnishing its garden, with no fewer than six 

 hundred plants. His house (as Dr. Pulteney observes) " be- 

 came the resort of the most ingenious and illustrious experi- 

 mental philosophers that England could boast." Dr. Pulte- 

 ney has closed a very liberal memoir of him, by inserting 

 Dr. Garthshore's testimony to the humane feeling, the social 

 politeness, and benignity of Sir William. His portrait is 

 painted by Abbot, and engraved by Ryder, 1791. There is 

 a full account of him in Chalmers. 



The Rev. William Hanbury, the intimate friend of 

 Churchill, and of Lloyd, in his singular " History of the 

 Charitable Foundations at Church Langton," (and which 

 exhibits his own benevolent heart, and great love for plant- 

 ing and gardening) mentions, at page 185, a full-length por- 

 trait of himself, by Penny. Had there been any other por- 

 trait of him, it is likely Mr. Nicholls would have mentioned 

 it in his Leicestershire, for that gentleman, as well as Joseph 

 Cradock, Esq. (both of whom are lately deceased), would 

 have been most likely to have known, if any other portrait of 

 this zealous planter did exist; so would Dr. Thomas Warton, 

 who always spoke of Mr. Hanbury as a generous, disinter- 

 ested, and benevolent man. Earlom engraved, in 1775, a 

 three-quarter metzotinto, from the above portrait by Penny. 

 Mr. Hanbury also published "A Complete Body of Planting 

 and Gardening;" 2 vols, folio. Also, "An Essay on Plant- 

 ing, and a Scheme to make it conducive to the Glory of 

 God, and the Advantage of Society;" Oxford, 8vo. Is. 1758. 

 And " The Gardener's New Calendar;" 8vo. 1758. 



Mr. Hanbury first conceived, in 1751, the establishing at 

 Church Langton, for benevolent purposes, his immense plan- 

 tations ; having procured (particularly from North America) 

 " almost every sort of seed that could be procured." He 



