170 PETER COLLINSON AND JOHN BARTRAM CH. 



Philosophical Society, 1743, his name following Franklin's 

 at the head of the roll. He was in touch with other 

 scientific workers in his own country, such as that 

 eccentric master of various lore, Dr. Christopher Witt of 

 Germantown, the accomplished Dr. Cadwallader Golden, 

 sometime Lieutenant-Governor of New York, the worthy 

 Jared Eliot of Connecticut, the amiable Dr. Alexander 

 Garden of Charleston, and two keen Virginian botanists, 

 Dr. John Mitchell of Urbanna and John Clayton of 

 Gloucester County. He also gave ungrudging help to 

 Kalm in his botanical visit to America (1747 to 1751), 

 and put him in the way of many of his discoveries. 



A man of natural religion, Bartram disliked theology, 

 and was disowned by the Friends of Darby Monthly 

 Meeting in 1758 on account of his Unitarian views, 

 according to the literal standard of the time. He con- 

 tinued, however, to attend the meetings, but was never 

 reinstated as a member. Over the door of his green- 

 house were inscribed the words : 



Slave to no sect, who takes no private road, 

 But looks through nature up to nature's God ! 



" It is through that telescope," he said in one of his letters, 

 " I see God in his glory." He lived to the age of seventy- 

 eight years, dying in 1777, cheerful and active almost to 

 the end, though much troubled at the approach of the 

 British army after the battle of Brandy wine. 



Bartram was tall and upright in figure, his long visage 

 animated with a frank and friendly expression. His 

 habits were simple, temperate and industrious. He 

 dwelt in patriarchal and hospitable fashion in the midst 

 of his large family, with his hired men and negroes at 

 his table. He had given their freedom to all his slaves, 

 paid them wages, and taught them to read and write : 

 " They love God," he said, " and fear his judgements." * 



1 See a charming account of a visit paid to Bartram in 1769, written under 

 the feigned name of a Russian gentleman, Ivan Alexiowitz, in the Letters of 

 an American Farmer by J. Hector St. John (de Crevecceur). On the authorship 

 see W. H. Dillingham, Tribute to the Memory of P. Collinson, p. 13, note. 

 Bartram's ingenious efforts in reclaiming swampy land from the river and in 

 irrigating and enriching the earth are also depicted. 



