li 



SHERARD. 



French writers have interpreted Samuel Wharton, Anglm, 

 under which name the book occurs in Haller's Btblhth.'ca 

 Botan'ica, v. I. 643. But as no one ever heard of iuch a 

 botanift as Wharton ; and the preface in queftion difplays 

 the objefts and acquifitions of one of the firft rank, who 

 could certainly not long remain in obfcurity, the above initials 

 are prefumed to mean William S!ierard, to whom alone in- 

 deed, with or without a fignature, that preface could belong. 

 Its writer is defcribed as having attended three courfes of 

 Tournefort's botanical leisures, in 1686, 87, and 88, all 

 which years, he fays, he fpent at Paris. In the fummer 

 of 1688 he defcribes himfelf as having pafTed fume time in 

 Holland, coUefting fpecimens of plants from the rich gar- 

 dens of that country and getting them named by profcllor 

 Hermann himfelf, who allowed him to perufe the manu- 

 fcript rudiments of his Paradifus Batavtu, to examine his 

 herbarium, and to compofe a Piodromus of thai work, 

 which is fubjoined to the little volume now under our con- 

 fideration. All this can apply to Sherard only, who be- 

 came the editor of Hermann's book itfelf, and who in its 

 preface, dated from Geneva in 1697, appears under his 

 own name, and fpeaks of himfelf as having long enjoyed 

 the friendlhip and the communications of that eminent mai, 

 whofe judgment and talents he juftly commemorates, and of 

 whofe various literary performances, as well as <if his bota- 

 nical principles, he gives an account. Dr. Pulteney con- 

 ceives this preface to have been written during a third tour 

 of its author to the continent ; but we prefume him to 

 have then been with the young lord Howland, and confe- 

 quently on his fccond tour only. 



Sherard communicated to the Royal Society, in 170c, a 

 paper relative to the making of Chinefe or .Japan varr.ilhes, 

 which is printed in the Philofophical Tranfaftions, v. 22. 

 The information which it contains was fent by the Jefiiits 

 to the grand duke of Tufcany, and probably obtained by 

 our author at Florence. 



He now entered on a more public walk of life, becom- 

 ing one of the commilTioners for fick and wounded feamen 

 at Portfmouth, and about the year 1702, or foon after, 

 was fent out as Britifli conful to Smyrna. Here his bota- 

 nical tafte met with fre(h gratification ; nor was he negleft- 

 ful of other curiofities of fcience or literature. He vifited 

 the feven churches of Afia, copied feveral ancient infcrip- 

 tions, and communicated to the Royal Society an account 

 of the new volcanic idand, near Santorini, which rofe out 

 of the fea May 12, 1707. 



Botany, however, continued to be his leading objeft. 

 He had a villa at Sedekio, near Smyrna, where he could with 

 the more eafe refign himfelf to the contemplation of plants, 

 and where he began that great herbarium of which we (hall 

 fpeak hereafter. Haffelquill vifited this fpot, with the de- ■ 

 votion of a pilgrim, in the fpring of 1750. He faw the 

 houfe, with a fmall garden laid out by Sherard, but not 

 enriched at any great cxpence, nor Itored with extenfivc 

 coUeAions of exotics. Many of llie latter indeed might, 

 in the courfe of thirty-two years, have difappeared. What- 

 ever fpecimens Sherard could obtain from Greece, and the 

 neighbouring countries, he here carefully preferved ; and 

 being well aware of the infufficicncy of Bauhin's Pinax, 

 as a clue to the botanical knowledge then in the world, he 

 IS faid to have here formed the projcCl of continuing it, and 

 even to have made fome progrels in that arduous under- 

 taking, before he returned to his native country in 17 18. 

 Soon after his return he received at Oxford the degree of 

 L.L.D. 



In 1 72 1 Dr. Sherard rcvifited the continent. Vaillant 

 was now in a declining Itate of healtli, and died in May 



1722. Previous to his deceafe he concluded, through the 

 mediation of Shernrd, ilie fale of his manufcript^^ and draw- 

 ings of Parifia.. plants, to Bocrhaave, who publiflied in 

 1727 the fplendid Botankon Pariftenfe. This work, though 

 not free from imperfeftions in the dillribution of its ma- 

 terials, would doubtlefs have been far lefs coiretl, but for 

 the fuperintendance of Sherard, who palled a fummer with 

 Boerhaave in revifing the manufcript. Our great botanift 

 had already rendered a more important fervice to his 

 favourite fcience by bringing with him from Germany, in 

 Auguft 1 72 1, the celebrated Dillenius (fee that article). 

 By a comparifon of dates, it appears that Sherard made 

 feveral vifits to the continent. He went from Paris to 

 Holland in 1721, and thence with Dillenius, the fame 

 year, to Eniiland. He Itayed fome time with Boerhaave 

 again in 1724, or perhaps 1725. We know not precifcly 

 when or where it happened that he was, hke Linnsus in 

 Norway, in danger of being (hot for a wolf, or a thief, by 

 iome half-humanized rullic, akin to the thief-takers and 

 Oxfordfhire juftice, who feized upon another illullrious 

 botanift, of our time, as a highway-man. 



What principally attached Sherard to Dillenius, was 

 the fimilarity of their taftes refpeftiiig thofe intricate tribes 

 of vegetables, now termed cryptogamic. To thefe the at- 

 tention of both had long been direded, and hence origi- 

 nated the cultivation, which this line of botanical ftudy 

 has received, from that period, in England and Germany. 

 This tafte, however, was not exclufive ; for thefe friends 

 and fellow labourers left no department of botany unim- 

 proved. James Sherard, feven years younger than his 

 brother, who had acquired opulence by medical praftice, 

 firft as an apothecary, and then as a phyfician, in London, 

 had a great fondnefs for the fame purfuit, and reared at his 

 country feat at Eltham, a number of exotic plants, from 

 every climate. Hither the more learned fubjcft of our 

 prefent article frequently reforted. He had acquired af- 

 fluence by his public appointments, but his ilyle of living 

 was fimple and private. Devoted to the cultivation of 

 knowledge in himfelf, and to the diffufion of that of others, 

 he lent his aid to all who required it, without coming for- 

 ward confpicuoudy as an author. He alTifted Cate(by with 

 information and with moi.ey, to bring out his Natural Hil- 

 tory of Carolina, though neither that work, nor tl.e Hoitut 

 Elthamenfu of Dillenius, appeared till fome time after his 

 deceafe, which happened on the 1 2th of Augult, 1728, 

 when he was 69 years of age. Of the place ot his inter- 

 ment we find no mention. His brother died Feb. 12, 1737, 

 aged 72, and is buried in Evington church, near Leiceftcr, 

 with his will-, whofe maiden name was Lockwood, by whom 

 he had no children. 



The moft oitenfible and fplendid fervice to botany, though 

 it for a long time yielded but little fruit, was rendered by 

 the will of Dr. William Sherard, wiio lelt 3000/. to found 

 and fupport a botanical profeliordiip at Oxford, of wliich 

 we have fpokcn under the biographical article Dillen'IUS- 

 He bequeathed to tliis eltablilhment his choice botanical 

 library, his ample herbarium, and the manufcript of his 

 Piriitx, the completion of which he intended (hould be one 

 of tlie objects and duties of the new profeflor. We have 

 already exprefted our doubts whether the failure of the 

 latter, in this point, were any great lots to fcience. Never- 

 tlielefs, the manufcript, as Siicrard left it, would probably 

 have been a great acquifition to the world, and might Ihll 

 be worthy of publication. Dillenius accomplillied more 

 appropriate, .ind perhaps more diflieult deligns ; but every 

 fcicntilic objed flcpt with his fucceffor for forty years. 

 Sherard has lomctimes been blamed for excluding clergymen 



from 



