1741?] JOHN BARTRAM. 321 



JOHN BARTRAM TO MARK CATESBY. 



[Without date.] 



Friend Mark Catesby : 



I received thy kind letter of the 29th of November, but thee not 

 having inserted when or where it was writ, I am at a loss to know 

 where to direct my answer, otherwise than to thee, and to the care 

 of our well-beloved and trusty friend, Peter Collinson, who 

 merits the esteem and friendship of most of the curious. The 

 reading of thy acceptable letter incited in me the different passions 

 of joy, in receiving a letter of friendship and request from one so 

 much esteemed, and sorrow in considering what time we have lost, 

 when we might have obliged each other. It's a pity thee had not 

 wrote to me ten years ago. I should by this time have furnished 

 thee with many different species of plants, and, perhaps some ani- 

 mals ; but the time past can't be recalled, therefore, pray, write 

 often to me, and inform me in every particular what thee wishes 

 of me, and wherein I can oblige thee ; for when I am travelling on 

 the mountains, or in the valleys, the most desolate, craggy, dis- 

 mal places I can find, where no mortal ever trod, I chiefly search 

 out. Not that I naturally delight in such solitudes, but entirely 

 to observe the wonderful productions in nature. 



Before Doctor Dillenius gave me a hint of it, I took no parti- 

 cular notice of Mosses, but looked upon them as a cow looks at a 

 pair of new barn doors ; yet now he is pleased to say, I have made 

 a good progress in that branch of Botany, which really is a very 

 curious part of vegetation. 



I am exceedingly pleased with thy proposals, and shall do what 

 I can, conveniently, to comply with them. I have a great value 

 for thy books, and esteem them as an excellent performance, and 

 an ornament for the finest library in the world. 



MARK CATESBY TO JOHN BARTRAM. 



London [year obliterated]. 



Dear Friend : 



I am much obliged to you for two kind letters, one of them 

 dated the 20th of July, 1741, the other the 15th of October fol- 

 lowing. The first contained a very accurate account and dissec- 



21 



