1797 



PREFACE. 



AS a connoifTeur of the fine arts, Motif, de 

 Calonne, the collector and late proprietor 

 of the Mufeum about to be defcribed, is fufficiently 

 known by the fale of, perhaps, the moft faperb 

 collection df paintings, prints, drawings, &c. &c. 

 that was ever difpofed of by an individual in this, 

 or indeed in any other country : but his attachment 

 for, and knowledge of, the productions of nature, 

 may poflibly be known but to few. By an attentive 

 perufal of the following meets, however, as alfo of 

 the Conchology of Monf. de Favanne (a work 

 begun under the aufpices of Monf. de Calonne, but 

 not completed in confequence of the troubles in 

 France), and by a careful examination of the Mu- 

 feum itfelf, his celebrity as a collector of natural 

 hiftory will at leaf! appear to vie with, if it will 

 not even be thought fuperior to his fkill in the arts. 



His fortune was ample, and his fltuation as a 

 minifter of France afforded him the means of ob- 

 taining early information whenever curious articles 

 were to be difpofed of in any country of Europe, 

 whether brought thither by the different circum- 

 navigators, or they were the contents of cabinets 



A % collected 



