fortune, in collecting rarities, and who bequeathed his whole collection to Dr. Sloane, on condition that he should pay certain legacies and debts with which he had charged it.

In 1707, the first volume of his Natural Hiftory of Jamaica appeared, in folio; though the publication of the fecond volume was delayed till 1725. By this very useful as well as magnificent work, the Materia Medica was enriched with a great number of excellent drugs, not known before.

In 1708, the Door was elected a foreign member of the Royal Academy at Paris, in the room of Mr. Tchirnaus † ; an honour of fo much the more eftimation, as the Queen of England being then at war with France, her express consent was neceflary to his acceptance of it.-In proportion as his credit aro e among the learned, his practice increafed with perfons of condition. Queen Anne frequently confulted him, and in her laft illness was bled by him. On the advancement of George I. to the throne, that Prince created him a Baronet, an hereditary title of honour, to which no English Phyfician had ever arrived before; and at the fame time made him Phyfician-General to the army, which he enjoyed till 1727, when he was appointed King's Phyfician in ordinary to George II. and he prefcribed for the royal family till his death. He was particularly favoured by Queen Caroline, who placed the greatest confidence in his prefcriptions. In the interim, he had been unanimously chofen one of the Elects of the College of Phyficians in 1716; and 1719, he was elected President of the fame College, in which station he continued fixteen years; during which time, he gave the highest proofs of his zeal and affiduity in the discharge of his duty; and alfo, in 1721, he made a prefent to that fociety of 1001. and fo far remitted a very confiderable debt, (700l.) which the corporation owed him, as to accept the payment in fuch faraller funs, and at fuch times, as was leaft inconvenient to the circumftances of their affairs. He was no lefs liberal to other learned bodies; he had no fooner purchased the manor of Chelfea, than he gave the Company of Apothecaries the entire freehold of their botanical garden there, on condition only, that they fhould yearly prefent to the Royal Society fifty new plants, til the number fhould amount to two thousand. He gave, befide, feveral other donations for the improvement of this garden, the fituation of which, on the

+ Of this extraordinary perfon our Authors give a biographical ac

count in the notes.

* This condition has been faithfully performed by the Company ever fince. The number of two thousand will be compleated by the fifty to be delivered for the year 1761, thofe for the year 1760 having been already delivered. See Review for November lalt, p. 329.

2

bank

bank of the Thames, and in the neighbourhood of the capital, was fuch as muft render it doubly ufeful; firft, by producing the most rare medicinal plants; fecondly, by ferving as an excellent school for young botanifts, an advantage which he himfelf had drawn from it in the early parts of his life. In 1733, the Apothecarics expreffed their gratitude to Sir Hans, by erecting, in the center of the garden, a marble ftatue of their benefactor, done by Ryfbrack. It is fupported by a pedeftal, on which is a Latin infcription, expreffing his donation, with its defign and advantages. He is reprefented in full proportion, and the likeness is well preserved.

The death of Sir Ifaac Newton, in 1727, made way for the advancement of Sir Hans Sloane to the Prefidency of the Royal Society. He had been Vice-Prefident, and frequently fat in the chair for that great man; and by his long connection with that learned body, he had contracted fo great an affection for it, that he made them a prefent of an hundred guineas, caufed a curious buft of King Charles II. who founded the Society, to be fet up in the great hall where it met, and he is faid to have been very inftrumental in procuring Sir Godfrey Copley's benefaction of a medal, value five guineas, (which is continued to this day) to be annually given, as an honorary mark of diftinction to him whó fhall communicate the beft experiments to the Society.

Being thus placed at the head of the Royal Society, Sir Hans now laid afide all thoughts of farther promotion, (fo our Authors exprefs it) and applied himfelf wholly to the faithful difcharge of the refpective duties of the places he enjoyed; to anfwer, like an able physician, the high opinion which the publie had conceived of him; to improve his mind with useful knowledge, and enrich his cabinet with new curiofities, which he now found much easier to do than formerly, fince he had taught feafaring people to regard, as an object of commerce, thole marine productions which before they defpifed as useless, and not worth notice.

In the year 1740, being arrived at the age of fourfcore, he refolved to quit the fervice of the public, and to live for himself, Accordingly, he refigned the prefidency of the Royal Society, who chofe Martin Folkes, Efq; to fucceed him; and, in a public affembly, they thanked him for the great and eminent fervices he had done them, and begged his permiffion, that his name might remain enrolled among the members of their council as long as he fhould live. He now removed entirely from his house in Bloomsbury to that at Chelfea, in order to enjoy in tranquillity the remains of a well-fpent life. He did not, however, pafs into that kind of folitude which excludes men

E 3

from

from fociety. He received at Chelsea, as he had done in London, the vifits of people of diftinction, of all learned foreigners, of the Royal Family, who fometimes did him that honour; and, what is still more to his praise, he never refused admittance or advice to rich or poor, who came to confult him concerning their health. Moreover, not content with doing good in these respects, he now, during his recefs, prefented to the public fuch useful remedies as had been warranted by fuccefs, during a long courfe of practice. Among these were his receipt for curing diftempers in the eyes †, and that for the bite of a mad dog.

Hitherto the great temperance of Sir Hans had preserved him from feeling the infirmities of old age; but, in his ninetieth year, he began to complain of pains, and to be fenfible of an univerfal decay. He was often heard to fay, that the approach of death brought no terrors with it, that he had long expected. the stroke, and was prepared to receive it, whenever the great Author of his being fhould think fit.-The long expected moment at length arrived. After a fhort illness of three days, he gave up his last breath, Jan. 11, 1752, and was interred on the 18th at Chelsea, in the fame vault with his lady, the folemnity being attended with the greateft concourse of people, of all ranks and conditions, that had ever been seen before (fay our Authors) on the like occafion. His funeral fermon was preached by Dr. Pearce, bishop of Bangor, who forbore to enlarge on the virtues or accomplishments of the deceased, agreeable to an exprefs prohibition received from his own mouth. Here our Biographers obferve, that fuch was his piety, he thought it a degree of profanation to debafe, with the praifes of human excellence, that pulpit which should be devoted to the worship of the Supreme Being.

The Writer of his Foge, already referred to, having obferved that, in his perfon, Sir Hans was tall and well-proportioned, thus proceeds to represent his character. "His manners were eafy, free, and engaging; his conversation sprightly, familiar, and obliging; nothing could equal his courtesy to ftrangers; he was always ready, on the leaft notice, to thew and explain to them his whole cabinet; and once a week, he

+ Though this Recipe for the eyes has been frequently printed in a variety of publications, yet as our Authors have alfo taken a copy of it in their notes, it might have been thought a blameable omiffion in us, and we omitted to tranfcribe fo useful a prefcription. R Tuttii p. p.

Iapid. Hematit. p. p. 9ij. Aloes p. p. 12. gr. Margarit. p. p. Rub them in a mortar, c. q. f. of viper's greafe. To be ufed mit and morning. N B. All cathartics, efpecially Mercury, hurtful; ...it cafe.

kept

kept open house for gentlemen of all ranks, particularly for his brethren of the Royal Society.

"The confequences of his death," continues the Eulogist, "were feverely felt by the poor, to whom he was every way a liberal benefactor. He was a governor of almost every hofpital in and about London. To each he gave an hundred pounds in his life-time, and a more confiderable fum at his death. Whatever propofal had for its object the public good, might command his moft zealous endeavours to promote it. He was the firft in England who introduced the Bark into general practice, not only in fevers, but in a variety of other distempers, particularly in nervous diforders, mortifications, and violent hæmorrhages. He frequently took it himself for the fpitting of blood, to which he was always more or lefs fubject. He likewife gave his fanction to the practice of inoculation, by inoculating two daughters of the Royal Family; which did more to establish that falutary discovery than all the treatises that ever were written on the fubject."

It was no wonder that Sir Hans was extremely folicitous left his cabinet of rarities, which he had taken fo much pains to collect, fhould be again diffipated at his death. He was unwilling that fo large a portion of his fortune fhould be loft to his children, and he was concerned left his country should be deprived of the use of fo valuable a treasure. He therefore bequeathed it to the public, on condition that 20,000l. fhould be made good by parliament to his family; a fum which, though large in appearance, was scarce more than the intrinsic value of the gold and filver medals, the ores, and precious stones that were found in it; befide his library, confifting of more than fifty thousand volumes, three hundred and forty-feven of which were illuftrated with coloured prints, three thousand five hundred and fixty-fix manufcripts, and a vast number of scarce and curious books. The parliament accepted the legacy, and fulfilled the conditions *.

It

The aft which paffed for this purpofe, in 1753, is entitled, "Au A&t for the purchase of the Mufæum, or collection of Sir Hans Sloane, Bart, and of the Harleian collection of MSS. and for procuring one general repofitory for the better reception and more convenient ufe of the faid collection, and of the Cottonian library, and additions thereto." -In pursuance of this act, the fum of 300,000l. was raised by a lottery, which abundantly enabled the parliament to compleat their whole defign. According to which, befide the 20,000l. paid for Sir Hans Sloane's collection, the Harleian manufcripts were purchased at the rate of 10,000l. and that magnificent edifice called Montague-Houfe, in Ruffel-ftreet, Bloomsbury, was alfo purchased at the rate of 10,000l.

It is eafy to perceive the advantage that may refult to the public from this immenfe collection. To have access to fuch a cabinet as this, is in effect, like making the tour of the world, and having for a tutor a catalogue of thirty-eight volumes in folio and eight in quarto, containing a fhort defcription of each curiofity, with a reference to the authors that treat of it more at large.

Sir Hans married, in 1695, Elizabeth, daughter of Alderman Langley, of London, who died in 1724, after fhe had brought him one fo, who died young, and three daughters, the youngeft. of which died alfo in her infancy. Sarah, the eldeft, married George Stanley, Efq; of Poultons in the county of Hants; and Elizabeth, the fecond, married the Lord Cadogan, colonel of the second troop of horfe guards, and governor of TilburyFort, &c.

The judicious Author of this article will pardon us, if, for the fake of brevity, we have fometimes deviated from his mode of expreffion, and here and there omitted a fhort paffage, of inferior import, for the fame reason.

To this houfe the two laft mentioned collections were removed, as alfo the Cottonian Library, with all the additions to it, and likewife that of Sir Arthur Edwards of Hanover fquare, bequeathed by his will in 1738.

The Prophecy of Famine. A Scots Paftoral. By C. Churchill. 4to. 2s. 6d. Kearfly.

WHAT a fcurri'ous age do we live in!

At the rate

we have proceeded in for fome time paft, we shall foon degenerate into a nation of favages. Railing, abuse, and detraction, are become fashionable amufements; nay almoft the fole employment of our Literati: what a debasement of Genius!, what a degeneracy of Tafte!In Politics, the revived Whig and Tory factions are as bitter in their enmity, as were the most implacable of their Predeceffors. In Divinity, the Freethinkers, the Methodifts, and the orthodox Clergy are all together by the ears, dealing about their Anathemas like wild-fire. Even the Mufes too, thofe accomplish'd well-bred Ladies, are now become little better than fo many scolding Billingfgates. As to the Lawyers, having always but too much bufinefs on their hands, in the way of their vocation, they have no leisure for any Squabbles but what they are paid for; fo that they, and the Phyficians, are, at prefent, the moft placid and peaceable of all his Majefty's fubjects.

But