MEMOIR OF DRURY. 59 



lection with great care, and often refers to it. " I 

 think," says Drury to one of his correspondents, in 

 a letter dated June 24th, 1773, " you remember 

 M. Fabricius. He is now in London, and very 

 busy in making descriptions from Mr. Banks' and 

 my Collections, where he will have employment for 

 some months ; a pleasure he seems to enjoy with as 

 much glee as a lover of wine does the sight of his 

 cellar when well stored with full casks and bottles, 

 enjoying by anticipation the pleasure he is to receive 

 in emptying them." It seems to be the general fate 

 of extensive collections of this kind, to undergo dis- 

 persion on the death of their original owners. It 

 often happens that a love for the study is not here- 

 ditary, although the objects themselves may be so ; 

 hence they frequently fall into the hands of those 

 who are indifferent to their preservation. It is 

 usually the case, also, in estimating the value of 

 such collections, that more regard is had to the 

 money and labour that have been expended on 

 their acquisition, than their intrinsic value at the 

 time when they are exposed to sale. It is not con- 

 sidered that they have already in a great measure 

 repaid their original cost, by the pleasure and in- 

 struction they have afforded their owner ; and that 

 the kind of factitious value they may have acquired 

 in his eyes, cannot be expected to exercise any in- 

 fluence on another. For a long period, moreover, 

 the supply of such objects from foreign countries 



serving of blame, each having acted in ignorance of the other'* 

 intentions. 



