1796.] TO HUMPHRY MARSHALL. :,r- 



I therefore beg leave thus to introduce him : being well assured 

 it will give thee pleasure to pay attention to a gentleman engaged 

 in such pursuits, as well as to serve our native land, by rendering 

 the products, with which it is so eminently Messed, more known in 

 other parts of the world; an office that perhaps may communi< 

 benefits to distant regions, and generations yet unborn. 



I am thy sincere friend, 



John Dickinson. 



Wilmington, October 29th, 1791. 



My dear Friend : 



Archibald Hamilton Rowan,* for whom I haw a particular 

 esteem, has been requested by his excellent wife, from whom he is 

 so unhappily banished, to send her a collection of American seeds : 

 and it will afford me a great deal of pleasure, if I can assist him in 

 making it. 



I understand that the seeds intended are those of flowers and 

 shrubs, but chiefly the latter, with some few seeds of trees. 



If thou or the Doctor will be so kind as to give directions for 

 my being supplied with a collection to the amount of ten or fifteen 

 dollars, it will be regarded as a great favour by 



Thy sincere friend, 



John Dickinson. 



Wilmington, November 1st, 1796. 



The collection will be the more valuable, if the properest names 

 are given, and the seasons for planting mentioned. 



November, 1782, to October, 1785. In the year 178G, he retired to private life, at 

 Wilmington, Delaware, where he died, February 14, 1808. 



His retirement was spent in literary studies, in charitable offices, and tli 

 ercise of an elegant hospitality. Eispolitical writings were collected and published, 

 under his immediate supervision, in two neat octavo volumes, in the year 1801. 



* The editor, when a youth, had the honour of a slight personal acquaintance 

 with that distinguished "Exile of Erin," whose graceful salutations to all he 

 knew, as he walked the streets of Wilmington, with his favourite dogs, are doubt- 

 less freshly remembered by the surviving residents of that period. Be 

 of the finest specimens of an Irish gentleman that ever visited these United Stal 

 An amusing and highly characteristic anecdote of Mr. Rowan, is related in Sir 

 Jonah Baerington's Sketches. 



