24 MEMOIR OF 



abroad, either of private gentlemen or priviccs. It 

 consisted of miniatures, drawings, shells, insects, 

 medals, natural things, animals, (of which divers, 

 I think one hundred, were kept in glasses of 

 spirits of wine,) minerals, precious stones, vessels, 

 curiosities in amber, christal, agate, &c. all being 

 very perfect and rare in their kind, especially his 

 oooks of birds, fish, flowers, and shells, drawn 

 and miniatured to the life. He told us that one 

 book stood him in 300 ; it was painted by 

 that excellent workman whom the late Gaston, 

 Duke of Orleans, employed. This gentleman's 

 whole collection, gathered by himself travelling 

 over most parts of Europe, is estimated at 8000. 

 He appears to be a modest and obliging person."* 



" March 11, 1690, I went again to see Mr 

 Charlton's curiosities, both of art and nature, and 

 his full and rare collection of medals, which, taken 

 altogether, in all kinds, is doubtless one of the 

 most perfect assemblage of rarities that can be 

 any where seen. I much admired the contortions 

 of the thea root, which was so perplexed, large, 

 and intricate, and, withal, hard as box, that it 

 was wonderful to consider/'f 



"November 30, 1691, I again saw Mr 

 Charlton's collection of spiders, birds, scorpions, 

 and other serpents, &c."J 



* Evelyn's Diary. f Ibid. Ibid. 



