35 



" London, July 3^ 1742. 



" OH ! FRIEND JOHN : I can't express the concern of mind 

 that I am under, on so many accounts. I have lost my friend, 

 my brother. The man I loved, and was dearer to me than all 

 men is no more. I could fill this sheet and many more ; but 

 oh ! my anxiety of mind is so great, that I can hardly write ; 

 and yet I must tell thee, that on Friday, July 2d, our dear 

 friend Lord Petre was carried off by the small pox, in the 

 thirtieth year of his age. Hard, hard, cruel hard, to be taken 

 from his friends, his family, his country, in the prime of life ; 

 when he had so many thousand things locked up in his heart, 

 for the benefit of them all now lost in embryo. 



" I can go no further, but to assure thee that I am thy friend. 



P. COLLINSON. 



" All our schemes are broke. 



" Send no seeds for him, nor the Duke of Norfolk ; for now, 

 he that gave motion is motionless all is at an end. 



" As I know this will be a great disappointment to thee, if 

 thou hast a mind to send the seeds, as was ordered for Lord 

 Petre and Duke of Norfolk on thy own account and risk I 

 will do what I can to dispose of them. The Duke of Norfolk 

 shall have the preference ; but there is no obliging him to take 

 them, as I had not the order from him, but from Lord Petre. 



" Send those for the Duke of Richmond and P. Miller. 



" Lord Petre was a fine, tall, comely personage handsome 

 had the presence of a prince ; yet was so happily mixed, that 

 love and awe were begot at the same time. The affability and 

 sweetness of his temper were beyond expression, without the 

 least mixture of pride or haughtiness. With an engaging 

 smile he always met his friends. But oh ! the endowments of 

 his mind were not to be described. Few or none could excel 

 him in the knowledge of the liberal arts and sciences. He was 

 a great mechanic as well as a great mathematician ; ready at 

 figures and calculations, and elegant in his tastes. 



" In his religious way,* an example of great piety ; his 

 morals of great temperance and sobriety ; no loose word, or 



* Lord Petre belonged to the Roman Catholic Church. 



