72 PETER COLLINSON [1735-6. 



London, March 12th, 1735-6. 



Dear Friend : 



On the other side thou will see thy account, drawn out with as 

 much exactness as I could collect it from thy invoices. I have 

 endeavoured to do justice between thee and thy noble employer. 

 I have shown it to him, and he approves of it, and has ordered me 

 to give thee credit for ,18 13s. 3d. ; part of it has been sent to 

 thy order, and for the balance, thou may draw a bill on me, or 

 order it in goods, which suits thee best. His lordship paid freight 

 and all charges on the seeds, being willing to give thee all the 

 advantage for thy encouragement. 



The things for thine and thy wife's wear, are a joint present 

 from me and his lordship, for thy other seeds, and plants, and 

 specimens, &c. 



As Lord Petre desired to see thy letters, they are all there. 

 He admires thy plain natural way of writing, and thy observations 

 and descriptions of several plants. For want of them, I shall only 

 take notice of thy proposal, in one of them, for an annual allowance 

 to encourage and enable thee to prosecute further discoveries. 

 Lord Petre is very willing to contribute very handsomely towards 

 it. He will be ten guineas, and we are in hopes to raise ten more. 

 This, we think, will enable thee to set apart a month, two, or three, 

 to make an excursion on the banks of the Schuylkill, to trace it to 

 its fountain. But as so great an undertaking may require two or 

 three years, and as many journeys, to effect it, so we must 

 leave that wholly to thee. But we do expect, that after har- 

 vest, and when the season is that all the seeds of trees and 

 shrubs are ripe, thou will set out ; and them that happen not 

 to be ripe when thou goes, they may have attained to maturity 

 when thou comes back. We shall send thee paper for specimens 

 and writing, and a pocket compass, expect thee'll keep a regular 

 journal of what occurs every day ; and an exact observation of the 

 course of the river, which, with a compass, thee may easily do. 



It will, we apprehend, be necessary to take a servant with thee, 

 and two horses for yourselves, and a spare one to carry linen, pro- 

 visions, and all other necessaries. If the spare horse, and the 

 man's horse, had two panniers or large baskets on each side, they 

 will be very convenient to carry paper, to take specimens by the 

 way, and to bring back the seeds ; thee may make a good many 

 little, middling, and large paper bags to put the seeds in ; and be 

 sure have some good covering of skins over the baskets, to keep 



