256 THE LIFE AND WORK OF GEORGE DON. 
APPENDIX G. 
LETTERS OF GEORGE DON. 
As in the case of John Mackay, who, like George Don, maintained 
a correspondence with Sir James Edward Smith, there are no 
letters in the Smith correspondence in the possession of the Linnean 
Society from George Don. Don’s letters to Mr. N. J. Winch have 
been referred to several times, and by the kind permission of the 
President and Council of the Linnean Society, in whose care the 
Winch correspondence is, I am able to present here copies of these 
letters, which I do from the standpoint of “Le style est homme 
méme.” I would like to add that in their reproduction I have been 
greatly assisted by Mr. B. Daydon Jackson, Secretary of the 
Linnean Society, who has not only himself transcribed for me some 
of the MS., but has also collated and corrected the proofs. I make 
no apology for quoting here (with his consent) his comments, in a 
letter to me accompanying the collated sheets, for they tell of Don’ s 
workmanship as it appears in the letters ane also convey his im- 
pression of Don after perusal of them—an impression which 
readers generally willshare. He says:—“I have just completed the 
collation of Don’s letters, and am sending them with this. There 
still are some words which [ cannot make out, after long study of 
them, Don’s letters are so badly formed—a, o, u are practically 
the same, and so on. The letter dated Feb. 18, 1810, is an 
especially bad specimen; you have seen it, and remember that he 
has closely packed both sides of a sheet of foolscap with names of 
plants and remarks, wherever he could find half an inch of blank 
paper. The task of copying was a hard one, hence the blunders that 
arose; I hope I have corrected all, but nothing short of a photo. 
could do justice to the writer. His letters show him eager and 
enthusiastic, clamorous for help; like all collectors, far from bashful 
in asking favduré, but also unmethodical and careless to the last 
degree. He is coniiteuthy excusing his want of attention to Winch’s 
requests by his having mislaid the last letter.” 
