in HIS COUNTRY HOUSE 23 



and was elected as a Fellow of that body. 1 He was 

 chosen a member of the American Philosophical Society 

 in 1770. 



Fothergill's labours in London became so continuous 

 that he felt the need of some yearly respite. Travelling 

 was then slow and arduous ; people but seldom left their 

 homes except to visit their relations, or in search of health 

 at one of the spas. Few facilities existed for a trip 

 abroad, or even to different parts of the kingdom. The 

 rich would rent a house in the country, and retreat 

 thither occasionally, journeying in their own carriages, 

 and staying at the numerous inns on the road. Such a 

 plan came into Fothergill's mind. His aim was quiet ; 

 therefore he sought a place too far away from London 

 to be followed, where he had no acquaintance, where 

 the roads were not good, and there was nothing to attract 

 the " curious idler." It must be in a healthy country 

 situation, where he could ride out daily on horseback, 

 and near to a Friends' Meeting, and to a market-town. 



He was attracted to Cheshire, his mother's county, 

 and to the neighbourhood of Warrington, the residence 

 of two of his brothers. After some search he heard of 

 a country house, Lea Hall, in this district, four miles 

 distant from the modern railway town of Crewe. He 

 took the place, and spared no pains or expense to make 

 the mansion and grounds comfortable and pleasant. 



To Lea Hall Fothergill retired for about two months 

 each autumn from the year 1765 to 1780, the year of his 

 death. But he was not idle in this secluded spot. 

 " Hither I bring down," he told a friend, " a great cargo 

 of letters " ; and many more soon followed him. His 

 correspondents were in most parts of the civilised world. 

 It was here that much of his writing work was done in 

 botany, in philanthropy, and in politics, and especially 

 in the concerns of his own Society. Here, too, he com- 



1 The nomination form recommends him for his extensive learning and 

 abilities, his " application of many years to the improvement of Natural 

 History," and "his constant readiness to promote every other branch of 

 science." It is signed by A. Russell, P. Collinson, Gowin Knight, (Sir) John 

 Pringle, John Ellis, C. Morton, etc. 



