Received Smith's letter of 20 [September 1796]; pleased he has returned safely from Wales. [William] Kirby has been left the living of Coddenham, [Norfolk]. Still awaiting [Bracy] Clark's paper on 'Oestrus'. His despair at decline of the Linnean Society: at the last meeting there was neither President, Vice-Presidents, or Treasurer, and only two members besides himself, the members are £100 in arrears, the rules are not kept to, the museum is in confusion, the new volume of "Linnean Transactions" has been in the press for two years, "it is become a perfect lounge once a month for a few persons", and convinced it will grow worse on Smith's quitting London. Account of [Robert] Townson's [(1762-1827), natural historian and traveller] evasion of paying his Society subscription and his illiberal opinion of the Secretary and Treasurer.