108 LIFE OF HORACE BENEDICT DE SAUSSURE 



' Mr. Earle gave me a good route to York and promised to meet 

 us and entertain us at his home. Went with the ladies to hear the 

 Musical Glasses of M. I'Espinasse; dined with Turton. Afterwards 

 took Miss Harriet Blosset in my carriage to see the garden and the 

 rosaries of Lyse, a gardener patronised by Mr. Banks, on the road 

 to Richmond, walked about with her, collected many plants. The 

 man seems a very good fellow, well-informed ; his trees are very reason- 

 ably priced ; he promised me a catalogue ; the quantity he has is 

 immense, most of them unknown in France. Thence, still with Miss 

 Blosset, to see the insects of Mr. Banks, a superb collection beautifully 

 arranged, insects pinned with the name underneath each, English and 

 foreign, in drawers covered with glass and framed in cedarwood. Took 

 tea with Mrs. Blosset, Miss Harriet, and her younger sister, the eldest 

 had gone with my wife to the opera. I had a serious conversation 

 with Miss Harriet. Her deep melancholy, her persuasion she should 

 die, her firm resolve to live in the country to show her true love, make 

 her very interesting.' 



Here we take leave of Miss Harriet as far as de Saussure is 

 concerned. He may have renewed his interesting acquaintance 

 on his return to London in the autumn, but of that period no 

 diary remains. In the official biographies of Banks the young 

 lady plays no part. But in a privately printed memoir of the 

 time, Lady Mary Coke's Journal, I find a footnote which throws a 

 sad light on the end of her love story : 



' August 11, 1771. Mr. Morrice was exceedingly droll, according to 

 custom, and said he hoped Mr. Banks, who, since his return, had desired 

 Miss Blosset will excuse him marrying her, will pay for the materials 

 of all the worked waistcoats she made for him during the time he was 

 sailing round the world.' 



On the 2 1st the most noteworthy event was a visit with Dr. 

 Turton to a brother of the celebrated Wilkes, some three or 

 four miles from London, where they found a ' famous painter ' 

 (the name is left blank probably Sir Joshua Reynolds) and ' an 

 author named Goldsmith,' ' un homme fort original, fort singulier, 

 naturel, gai, vraiment comique dans ses idees et dans ses expres- 

 sions.' Thence they all went to a house, ' a very fine bit of 



eight, and, having lost both her sons, left her property to the boys' great friend 

 at Eton, Mr. Henry Dawney, the grandfather of the present Lord Downe. 

 Benningborough was sold in 1917 by the then owner, Colonel Dawney. Pictured 

 in Country Life, it was advertised as having ' matured gardens.' 



