Received letter from [Georg Heinrich] Noehden proposing Dr [Christian Fridericus] Schwaegrichen [(1775-1853)] as FMLS; forwards nomination certificate for Smith to sign and suggests also forwarding it to [Dawson] Turner.
[Smith has annotated on recto of folio]: "sent certificate to Mr D Turner, Dec. 30 1822".
Greetings. Celebration of the anniversary of Linnaeus.
No summary available.
Up to four hundred visitors from England and the continent a day visiting Fonthill Abbey, Wiltshire, [home of William Beckford (1760-1844)]. When he visited Fonthill with Sir Richard Hoare and [Daniel] Lysons [(1762-1834)] there were four hundred carriages and horses. Duke of Wellington [Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852)], Sir Abraham Hume and Mr Cust have also visited Fonthill. Received plants from [William] Jack [(1795-1822)] described in his "Malay[an] Miscellanies" including three new species of 'Nepenthes'. Received Brazilian plants Dr [John] Sims [(1749-1831)]. Received a 'Arbutus laurifolia' from Mexico. Purchased [Franz Wilhelm] Sieber's [(1789-1844)] Cretan, Egyptian, and Holy Land plants, requests Smith to send specimen of each species of "'Arb.'" for comparison. Also asks Smith to send [Franciscus] Cupani's [(1657-1710) Italian botanist] works.
News from Linnean Society including new members, [Samuel Goodenough] incapacitated by gout, delay of publication of volume. Lord Grenville [William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville (1759-1834) politician and prime minister, 1806-1807] invites him to Dropmore House, [Buckinghamshire], he is very keen about plants and has allocated twenty acres for cultivating pines, Lambert sent him two species from Boyton, [Wiltshire]. A dinner attended by Barrow of the Admiralty and Captain Bowles, information on a trip to Peru. An account of the Island of Crete by [Franz Wilhelm] Sieber [(1789-1844)], reminds Smith that he has purchased Sieber's collections. Requests to borrow book by Cupani and specimens of woody 'Dianthus' and Thunberg's 'Thuja dolabrata'. Captain Franklin and John Richardson's "account of the northern land expedition" to be printed soon, Richardson is comparing his plants with Lambert's. Smith has noted that he replied "with Cupani ed. 2, imperfect, & Lehmann's "Asperifoliae" part 1. Sent a bit of 'Thuja dolabrata'.
Letter of introduction for the Prince de Cimitil, and Prince de Casiati, who are spending a few days in Cambridge.
Sending three old letters from William Herschel. Still unpacking and organizing her books and papers.
Has had a letter from George Peacock. Regarding the Lucasian Professorship at Cambridge.
Matters relating to his calculating machine.
Will not be able to pay a visit as children have whooping cough. Has been demonstrating his calculating machine. Hopes to see him at the Greenwich visitation.
Regarding the construction of the model machine. Things appertaining to the Netherlands. Regarding his new chemical theory.
The account will be inserted in the Morning Chronicle tomorrow.
Will be moving to Worchester shortly. Theory on stained glass. Regarding his recent pamphlet.
Regarding the copying of the painting by William Artaud. Send it by coach if possible. Meeting of the Astronomical Society Council and matters arising from it.
Condolences on death of William Herschel.
No summary available.
Tells JH to meet a Monsieur Debure [?] while in Brussels; arranges a time.
No summary available.
Erasmus Alvey Darwin has rheumatism; his sisters complain of his bad temper but CD thinks him very good tempered. CD has received a new cabinet. [This is the first of six entries written in a "Memorandum book" comprising four sheets folded into a gather and sewn together in book form. The entries are in the style of letters addressed to an unnamed friend and are dated between 1 and 12 January 1822, shortly before CD’s thirteenth birthday. As they were written straight into the memorandum book, it is clear that they were never sent through the post, but were either to an imaginary recipient, or intended to be read by someone in the household, possibly CD’s youngest sister, Emily Catherine Darwin (Catherine).]
Erasmus Alvey Darwin is good tempered and their sisters have "not abused at all". Hopes the recipient will help "in looking out and washing the fossils out of the plate closet".