Sill HANS SLOANE. 23 



his life. Soon after be came of age, he returned 

 to London for the purpose of recovering the 

 remainder of his father's and grandfather's fortunes 

 from the hands of a Mr Carew, who had obtained 

 letters of administration to the estates of the 

 Courten family ; but, after some time, he com- 

 promised the case, and, " by a bond, surrendered 

 all claims to the administration, for valuable 

 considerations not specified ; adding, that what- 

 ever he had received from the wrecks of the 

 fortune of his father, was ex dono et gratia, and 

 not ex jure. He even relinquished his family 

 name of Courten, and assumed that of William 

 Charlton, and publicly announced his intention 

 of quitting England, and living in a strange 

 land."* 



He is supposed to have remained abroad many 

 years, and it must have been during this interval 

 that he became acquainted with Sloane. In 1669, he 

 began to collect coins and medals. To what extent 

 his curiosities increased may be seen from the 

 following notices of his museum, gleaned from the 

 contemporary Diaries of Evelyn and Thoresby. 

 "December 16, 1686, I carried the Countesse of 

 Sunderland to see the rarities of one Mr Charlton, 

 in the Middle Temple, who shewed us such a 

 collection as I had never seen in all my travels 



* Chalmers' Biographical Dictionary, art. Courten. 



