92
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
"and yet more, for thy generous offers of assisting me, in
"procuring such natural productions as your country affords.
"I must own it was what I had long wanted, and must have
"intruded myself into the number of thy correspondents, had
"not my friend P. Collinson frequently communicated whatever
"he could spare me.
"I always admire thy industry and exactness, as well as
"the surprising progress thou hast made in the knowledge of
"plants,—a branch of my profession, which I have just applied
"myself to, so as to be able to know the principal officinals of
"our own country, and to collect the best accounts I could meet
"with, of their genuine effects. I retain this acquaintance
"with them, by now and then taking a walk to Peckham [P.
"Collinson's], or Chelsea [Apothecaries' Garden]18; but cannot
"prevail upon myself to launch far into a study, which would
"rob me of more time, to cultivate with success, than my
"present situation will admit of.
"The fossil productions have always suited my inclinations
"most; but I have made but little progress." He adds that
it is possible that he might now and then have occasion to
prescribe for persons in North America. "I should be glad to
"be informed of what helps I might expect, which are peculiar
"to your country." He asks about mineral waters and, "what
"simples of considerable efficacy, peculiar to your clime, at least
"indigenous, are in use among your practitioners; or even
"celebrated among the vulgar."
In a biographical note on Fothergill his friend John Coakley
Lettsom, a fellow physician, describes how Fothergill noticed
"a spot of land" on the Surrey side of the Thames, which was
sheltered from the severity of the north wind and with a fertile
soil. "Its vicinity was convenient, and its extent rendered its
"purchase easy, as the proprietor was inclined to sell it: the
"price was stipulated, and one obstacle alone remained to make
"it his own ; it was let to a tenant at will, whose little family
"subsisted on its produce, and whose misery was inevitable,
"had he expelled him from this fruitful soil: the moment he
"was acquainted with the circumstances of the family, he
18 His house was in White Hart Court, between Lombard Street and Gracechurch Street:
a famous meeting house of the Friends was in Gracechurch Street, the street in which Peter
Collinson had his ofiice.