Sir Hans Sloane.

BORN A. D. 1660.-DIED A.D. 1753.

THIS eminent physician, the founder of the British museum, was a native of Ireland, and was born on the 16th of April, 1660. From his early youth he evinced a strong inclination to the study of the works of nature. Having embraced the medical profession, he came to England to prosecute his favourite science of botany, in the Apothecaries' garden at Chelsea; and here he became acquainted with the celebrated John Ray and the Hon. Mr Boyle. Having availed himself of all the advantages which London afforded, he thought fit to travel into foreign countries, and, upon his return, resolved to fix himself in London for the exercise of his profession. He soon became acquainted with the principal members of the Royal society, and was elected fellow in 1685. He sailed with the duke of Albemarle, for the island of Jamaica, in 1687, and returned to England in July, 1689. He was subsequently appointed physician to Christ's hospital, and though he constantly received the salary, he immediately returned it for the use of the hospital. He married, in 1695, Elizabeth, one of the daughters of John Langley, Esq., citizen and alderman of London. The year following he published his first work,- A Catalogue of the native Plants of Jamaica.'

A museum, which he had for several years been forming, was, in the year 1701, greatly enlarged by the accession of that of his friend, William Courteen, Esq., who had spent the greatest part of his time and fortune in forming his collections, and which, at his death, he left to Dr Sloane. Having discharged the office of secretary of the Royal society for twenty years without any salary, he resigned it in 1713; and, on the death of Sir Isaac Newton in 1727, the high and honourable office of president of the society was conferred on him. In the last illness of Queen Anne, he was called in to her assistance, and after the accession of King George the First to the throne, he was created a baronet, being, it is said, the first physician upon whom that rank was bestowed.

Upon purchasing the manor of Chelsea, he gave the ground of the garden to the Apothecaries' company, appointing an annual rent of fifty plants from it to be presented to the Royal society. The establishment of this garden was, indeed, as it well deserved to be, a peculiar object of his care and attention, having been of great advantage to the public, by assisting and encouraging the study of botany in this country. In order to perpetuate these benefits, he stipulated that it should for ever remain a botanic garden.

The severe winter of 1739 had nearly proved fatal to Sir Hans Sloane: he recovered, but determined to retire from his profession, and to spend the remainder of his life upon his estate at Chelsea. He began in February, of the year 1742, to remove his library and museum from his house at Bloomsbury to that at Chelsea; but his retirement from London did not prevent him from being constantly visited by all persons of distinction, and sometimes by the royal family. At upwards

of ninety years of age, though feeble, he was perfectly free from any distemper, enjoying his rational faculties and all his senses, except that of hearing, which had been impaired for several years. His decay was very gradual, indicating that he would one day drop like a fruit fully ripe; and he would often say that he "wondered he was so long alive; that for many years he had been prepared for death, and was entirely resigned to the will of God, either to take him from this world, or continue him longer in it, as should seem best to him." He would sometimes say, "I shall leave you one day or other when you do not expect it ;" and indeed the illness which carried him off was but of two or three days' continuance, and seemed rather the natural decay of a strong constitution than any real distemper. There appeared nothing in him to which old age is usually subject; for, as he was free from bodily pain, his mind seemed always composed, calm, and screne. He would sometimes reflect on his past life with satisfaction, whilst he declared that, during his whole practice, he had never denied his advice to the poor, or had, on any occasion, neglected his patient. He was governor of almost every hospital in London, to each of which, besides a donation of £100 during his lifetime, he left a legacy at his death. He was a benefactor to the poor, and formed the plan for bringing up the children in the Foundling hospital.

He died January 11th, 1753, and was interred on the 18th of that month, in the church-yard of Chelsea, in the same vault with his lady, his funeral being attended by many persons of distinction, and several fellows of the Royal society. His funeral sermon was preached by Dr Zachary Pearce, lord-bishop of Bangor, according to the appointment of the deceased. A handsome monument was erected to his memory in Chelsea church-yard.

The person of Sir Hans Sloane was tall and graceful; his behaviour free, open, and engaging; and his conversation cheerful, obliging, and communicative. He was easy of access to strangers, and always ready to admit the curious to a sight of his museum. His table was hospitable; and he appropriated one day in the week to persons distinguished by their learning, and particularly those of the Royal society. He was extremely temperate both in eating and drinking. His custom was to rise very early in the morning; and, from his first getting up, he was constantly fit to have gone abroad, though for some of his last years he stirred not out of his own house. The study of nature and the improvement of knowledge were the employment and pleasure of his life, and to the exercise of his high intellectual qualities are we indebted for the first establishment of the British museum. Having, with great labour and expense, during the course of his long life, collected a rich cabinet of medals, objects of natural history, productions of art, antiquities, and an extensive library of manuscripts and printed books, he bequeathed the whole to the public, on condition that £20,000 should be paid to his executors. Included in this collection were gold and silver coins, which, considered only as bullion, were worth upwards of £7000. The gems and precious stones of every kind, both in their natural state, and as the jeweller has manufactured them; the numer ous vessels of jasper, agate, onyx, cornelian, sardonyx, &c.; the curious cameos; the vast stores of the various productions of nature, and the most extensive library extant of physic and natural history, consisting of

50.000 volumes, of which 347 are drawings, or books illuminated, 3,516 manuscripts, he declares solemnly in his will, he believes to be worth more than four times what he expected to be paid to his family for them. Government fulfilled the terms of his legacy; and, in 1753, an act of parliament was passed for the purchase of Sir Hans Sloane's museum, together with the Harleian collection of manuscripts, and for procuring one general repository, for the better reception and more convenient use of the collections, and of the Cottonian library, and additions thereto. The museum of Sir Haus Sloane was accordingly removed from Chelsea to Bloomsbury, and thus commenced the formation of the British museum, to which national collection the most valuable additions have, from time to time, up to the present period, constantly been making.

Thomas Carte.

BORN A. D. 1686.-died a. D. 1754.

THOMAS CARTE, the son of a nonjuring clergyman of some antiquarian fame, was born at Clifton in Warwickshire, of which place his father was then vicar. He was admitted of University college, Oxford, in 1698; but appears to have afterwards transferred himself to Cambridge, where he took the degree of M. A. in 1706. Having been appointed reader in the Abbey church at Bath, he preached a sermon on the 30th January, 1714, which drew him into a controversy with Dr Chandler, and led to his first publication, entitled The Irish massacre set in a true light,' which is inserted in Lord Somers's tracts.

Upon the accession of George I. Carte declined taking the necessary oaths to the government, and was suspended in consequence from clerical functions; he now assumed a lay habit, but used to perform divine service in his own family every Sunday, duly arrayed in gown and cassock. On the breaking out of the rebellion in 1715, Carte appears to have incurred the suspicions of government, as warrants were issued for his apprehension. He had the good fortune, however, to escape the vigilance of his pursuers. He had been for some time secretary to Bishop Atterbury, and was involved in the charge of high treason brought against that prelate; but he had again the good fortune to escape pursuit, and get himself conveyed to France, where he remained several years.

He returned to England about the year 1729, Queen Caroline having interceded for him, on learning that his habits were strictly those of a student. He had employed his exile in France in preparing an edition of Thuanus, which he proposed to publish in English. His diligence and erudition had enabled him to collect some very valuable materials for such an undertaking; but Dr Mead prevailed on him to part with them for a valuable consideration, and having placed them in Mr Buckley's hands, they were employed in the splendid edition of Thuanus completed in 1733, in seven volumes folio. A few years after his return to England, Carte published The history of the life of James, Duke of Ormonde,' in three volumes folio. Of this work Lord Orrery, in a letter to Carte from Dublin, writes in the following terms: "Your

history is in great esteem here. All sides seem to like it. The dean of St Patrick's, (Swift) honours you with his approbation."

Carte long contemplated writing a history of England. Rapin's work was already before the public, but its principles were not such as Carte and others of his way of thinking on certain points could approve of It appeared to him that the cause of truth required that another his torian should narrate the progress of public events in England, and he undertook the task himself. He received considerable encouragement from the public generally, and from several of the public companies in the metropolis, and also from the universities. Under such auspices he set to work, and in 1747 the first volume of the projected history appeared. A note in this volume nearly proved fatal to the undertaking. Speaking of the popular superstition of the royal touch as a cure for scrofula, the historian had the imprudence to relate that one Christopher Lovel had been cured at Avignon by the touch of the exiled king. This indiscretion lost him many patrons, but he proceeded with the work, and in 1750 brought out a second volume. The third was published in 1752; the fourth, which Carte did not live to complete, in 1755. It was his design to have brought down the work to the Restoration, but it only reaches to 1654. Carte died in 1754. His papers were purchased by the university of Oxford; Macpherson appears to have had the use of them in his history. Carte was the author of several pieces besides his great historical work. His two brothers, Samuel and John, were also men of considerable erudition and parts.

Richard Mead, M.D.

BORN A. D. 1673.—died a. D. 1754.

RICHARD MEAD, M.D., a celebrated physician, born 11th August, 1673, at Stepney near London, was the son of Mr Matthew Mead, an eminent presbyterian divine, afterwards ejected for nonconformity. His early education was conducted at home, and at the college of Eton. His father having fled to Holland to avoid the persecutions of 1683, he soon followed, and in 1689 he entered the university of Utrecht, where he studied under the celebrated Grævius. Having fixed upon the profession of medicine he went to Leyden, at that time one of the most flourishing of the continental universities. He attended there the lectures of Herman on botany, and those of Dr Pitcairne on the practice of medicine. After travelling in Italy he graduated in medicine at the university of Padua, and returning home in 1696, commenced the practice of his profession in Stepney. In 1703 he went to London, having been appointed physician to St Thomas's hospital, and being chosen by the college of surgeons as their lecturer on anatomy. His Paduan degree not being a qualification for admission into the college of physicians, he received in 1707 a diploma from the university of Oxford, and by the interest of Dr Radcliffe was admitted a fellow of the London college in 1716. Along with the court physicians, he was called in consultation during the last illness of Queen Anne, and, more decided in his views than the rest, declared that her life was in the utmost danger. Among the honours he had hitherto received may be