A FORGOTTEN ESSEX GARDENER-BOTANIST. 165
told of the employer's demise. Main says that the purser was
in tears and could only articulate to him " our good friend is
dead."
Had Gilbert Slater lived but a few months longer he would
have had the long-wished-for gratification of finding himself
possessed of many plants which he had long desired to see,
and which have been, and now are, among the most splendid
ornaments of our gardens.
The good ship "Triton" arrived at Gravesend on the
5th September, 1794, and it was not long before Main was
told that immediately after the death of Slater the seat at Leyton
was given up and had passed into other hands. Main called
on the executor to receive his remuneration, but, there being
no written agreement, nothing was forthcoming.
All drawings, specimens and seeds had been delivered to
the purser, but it is not known what became of them, though
apparently a few went to George Hibbert, F.R.S., F.L.S., of
Clapham, an equally ardent collector of plants, and Main was
told by the executor that some of the plants on the estate had
also been disposed of to Hibbert. Main afterwards became
head gardener to Hibbert.
Gilbert Slater died at his seat at Knotts Green, Leyton,
on the 30th October, 1793, aged 40. The General Evening Post
of the 29th-31st October contains the following notice:—
"Gilbert Slater, a considerable owner of East India
"shipping, and one of the Directors of the London Assurance
"Office, died yesterday morning of a mortification in his
"bladder."
A longer notice, which appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine,
vol. LXIII, pt. 2, p. 1054, is as follows:—
"Of a mortification in his bladder, Gilbert Sclater, Esq.,
"a considerable owner of East India shipping, and one of
"the directors of the London Assurance office. Mr. S. was
"son of an East India captain, and was himself a ship's
"husband, by which he acquired a large fortune, which he
"applied to botanical purposes, having two persons collecting
"for him in the East Indies at the expense of £500 a year,
"and having made an elegant arrangement of his garden
"and contrived a water-mill, with pipes to distribute the water