1743-4.] TO JOHN BARTRAM. 335 



natural productions as your country affords. I must own it was 

 what I had long wanted, and must have intruded myself into the 

 number of thy correspondents, had not my friend P. Collinson 

 frequently communicated whatever he could spare me. 



I always admire thy industry and exactness, as well as the sur- 

 prising progress thou hast made in the knowledge of plants, a 

 branch of my profession, which I have just applied myself to, so 

 as to be able to know the principal officinals of our own country, 

 and to collect the best accounts I could meet with, of their genuine 

 effects. I retain this acquaintance with them, by now and then 

 taking a walk 'to Peckham, or Chelsea ; but cannot prevail upon 

 myself to launch far into a study, which would rob me of more 

 time, to cultivate with success, than my present situation will 

 admit of. 



The fossil productions have always suited my inclinations most ; 

 but I have made but little progress. I don't so much collect with 

 a view to have a great number of odd things together, as to have 

 so many productions of different kinds, natures, compositions, 

 figures, &c, as, when laid together, may assist me in forming 

 some general idea of the production of several of these kinds of 

 substances, more consistent with the nature of things, than I have 

 yet met with, from others. This is the entertainment of leisure 

 hours ; and is a structure which can only be erected from a multi- 

 tude of materials, which time, perhaps, may supply me with, and 

 the kindness of my friends. 



The Amianthus, or Cotton Stone, was very acceptable. E. 



thousand pounds, printed a translation of the Bible from the Hebrew and Greek 

 originals, by Anthony Purver, the Quaker, in 2 vols, folio, 1764, and in 1780, 

 published Percy's Key to the New Testament, for the use of his cherished semi- 

 nary at Ackworth. 



Finding his pleasant retreat at Upton too remote to be often visited while en- 

 gaged in his profession, and yet too much within the sphere of action to be a 

 refuge from care and importunity, Doctor Fothergill procured a lease of Lea 

 Hall, near Middlewich, in Cheshire, in the summer of 1765, to which secluded 

 spot he afterwards made an annual retreat [with his maiden sister, himself, 

 moreover, being a bachelor], as long as he lived; commonly leaving London in 

 the month of July, and returning in the beginning of October, 



On the 12th of December, 1780, he was attacked by a painful disease, which, 

 notwithstanding every effort of the experienced physicians and surgeon, who at- 

 tended him, terminated his life on the 26th day of the same month. His remains 

 were deposited in the Quaker's burial ground, at Winchmore Hill, about twelve 

 miles from London. See Rees's Cyclopaedia, and Blake's Biographical Dic- 

 tionary. 



