RICHARD. MIDDLETON. MASSEY 249 
of Physicians, which voted the sum of akg for the purchase of a 
piece of plate in recognition of his servic 
he fifteen years of erent 8 residence in London are ieei 
accompanied the specimens and is nies with them in Herb. 
Sloane vol. steek from this it appears that Massey had a brother 
in Maryland, who had urged the Sails of the plants, of which a 
further selleotion 4 is promised. 
On Feb. 21, 1740, Massey writes to Sloane from Rostherne a 
letter from which it would seem that he had returned to his 
native eres in the previous year. e says :—‘t When I first 
came into Cheshire I found my house full of workmen, w em- 
ployed my thoughts two months,” and complains of having been 
“ confined at home all this winter,” as a consequence of rheumatism 
which had followed on a fall from his horse, leaving him “very 
feeble and weak.” It is rather a sad letter, as are those that 
follow it, for although his old interests remain, his “being in 
continual pain ”’ prevents his writing and he has “no corresponce 
in London.” Headds: “I hope {[Mr. Edwards] will send me the 
new Pharmacopeeia if printed & ford, tis to make me amends for 
a Pharmacop. I left with them cum notis M™ Gualteri Charlton 
M. This is probably the “annotated copy” to which Munk 
refers as igi in the College, and from which he derived much 
suet 
mountains w* very much affected him, As the warm venir 
comes on I mend visibly & intend ‘speedily a journey to Buxton 
baths to try what they will do.” In the last letter of the 
series, in which he records another fall from his horse and 
consequent illness, he speaks of this visit, from which at_first 
he derived benefit but “the cold winds from the mountains drove 
|him] away.” “I have since been in Lancashire from ae see 
the edge of Yorkshire I have got several fossils w™ I design 
give you an account of ere long. I desire to know if Dillenius his 
book of mosses is publisht. [I subscribed for it & paid my first 
subscription before I left London.’ 
From this date we know nothing further of Massey, but it 
may bai honetaed that he never recovered his health. He died at 
Rostherne on March 29, 1743, and was buried in the chancel of 
the church there. Over him is a flagstone inscribed as follows:— 
Here lieth interred the poy 
Ricnarp Mippieton Mas 
on of award Massey, of Lites vo) 
M.D. Honorary Fellow of the College of 
Physicians, and Fellow of the Royal Society of London 
Obiit 29™° Martii, a.p, 1743. 
