James Edward Smith, Bruton Street, [London], to Pleasance Smith, Wormleybury

Summary

Account of his time in London: breakfasted with [Sir Abraham and Lady Amelia] Hume; Lord Dartmouth [George Legge, 3rd Earl of Dartmouth (1755-1810)] has promised a ticket for the "Antient Music"; came from Wormleybury, [Hertfordshire, home of the Humes], on Saturday, gave a lecture, and attended Royal Academy dinner, where William Smith introduced him to William Wilberforce [(1759-1833), abolitionist] and Duke of Bedford [John Russell, 6th Duke], sat next to [Samuel] Rogers [(1763-1855)] the poet; the exhibition poor; felt feverish the next day.

Requests copy of extracts from Fuseli's "Aphorisms". Resolved to not go further than reptiles in his lectures now, and will leave fish, insects, and worms for another year; course ends 16 May. Offered to make Lord Darmouth an Honorary Member of the Linnean Society, he deferred. Court party uneasy about the city agitations and dread Sir Fra[...]s's liberation. [Richard] Westall [(1765-1836), painter] exhibiting his pictures at his house; he is "very kind, as usual".

[Letter incomplete: small cropped section pasted over second folio, missing text presumed destroyed. Comparison of the paper of the two folios suggests this may have once been two separate letters]

Letter details

Record number

LINNEAN1664

From

Sir James Edward Smith

To

Pleasance Smith

Date

5 May 1810

Sent from

London

Sent to

Wormley, Hertfordshire

Source of text

GB-110/JES/COR/19/84, The Linnean Society of London

Language

English

Contributor

The Linnean Society of London[View Ɛpsilon collection]

Also published in The Correspondence of Sir James Edward Smith, The Linnean Society's Archive Catalogue.

• Pleasance Smith
• Sir James Edward Smith