EUROPEAN FAME 193 



began. The Captain succumbed to a complication of 

 scurvy and dysentery. The command fell upon De 

 Rossel, who had the ill-luck to discover that it was war- 

 time. His ships and his treasures were seized by a 

 British frigate, and La Billardiere's valuable collection 

 of plants, birds, etc., was brought to England. The 

 Due d'Harcourt, an emigre officer in the British service, 

 appears to have been the captor ; and on his arrival in 

 London he proposed to the Queen's Chamberlain that the 

 fine Herbarium now in his hands should be presented 

 to Her Majesty. Major Price forthwith wrote to Sir 

 Joseph Banks, asking him to visit Harcourt House and 

 inspect the collection with a view to determine whether 

 the whole, or a part, should be added to that of Her 

 Majesty. 



Sir Joseph Banks to Major William Price. 



" SOHO SQUARE, March 31, 1796. 



" MY DEAR SIR, In consequence of my sending on 

 Tuesday morning to Harcourt House, in order to learn 

 whether orders were left for my having admission to see 

 the collections there during Lord Harcourt's absence, I 

 received a letter from the Duke ... of the whole 

 curiosities collected on board the Discovery ships that 

 were commanded by M. D'Entrecasteaux, and that they 

 are 'offered as a present to the Queen by the King of 

 France. 1 . . . They consist of a vast Herbarium, collected 

 in all the places at which the ships touched, a large 

 collection of dried Birds, a considerable number of dried 

 Lizards and Snakes, some Fish in spirits, and some Insects 

 which are said to be much damaged. 



The collection of plants bears testimony to an industry 

 all but indefatigable in the botanists who were employed, 



1 i.e. Louis XVII, who was, by a legal fiction, the sovereign of the 

 d'Harcourts. 



