Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/673

 ADMINISTRATION OF COLONIES. 549 Dar^'in's name was just then famous in the poetic world, his 1789 Lioves of the Plants, which appeared in 1788, having captivated the public fancy by its ingenious mixture of botanical science and Popular floral amours. Ho was the grandfather of Charles Darsvin, the ^^ ^' great naturalist. An engraving of the medallion referred to was published in Erasmus Darwin's poem, The Botanic Garden (1791), p. 87, with the following lines addressed to Wedgwood : — To call the pearly drops from Pity^s eye, Or stay Despair's disanimating sigh. Whether, Friend of Art ! the gem you mould, Rich with new taste, with antient virtue bold. Form the poor fettered slave on bended knee From Britain's sons imploring to be free ; • Or with fair Hope the brightening scenes improve. And cheer the dreary wastes at Sydney Cove ; Or bid Mortality rejoice and mourn O'er the fine forms on Portland's mystic urn. These lines allude to " two cameos of Mr. Wedgwood's manu- facture I one of a Slave in Chains, of which he distributed many Wedgwood's hundreds to excite the humane to attend to, and to assist in, the ^*™®^* abolition of the detestable traffic in human creatures ; and the other a cameo of Hope attended by Peace and Art and Labour, which was made of clay from Botany Bay, to which place he sent many of them to show the inhabitants what their materials could do, and to encourage their industry." Darwin had a curious gift of prophecy in science as well as in poetry. In the same poem (p. 29) occur the following lines : — Soon shall thy arm, Unconquer'd Steam ! afar Drag the slow barge or drive the rapid car. THE AMERICAN LOYALISTS. Marston House, Frome, Dear sir, Somersetshire, October 21, 1784. Of the many letters that I have long been pestered with on the subject of New South Wales, the enclosed is the only one that I am now desirous of answering, for which reason I take the liberty of sending it to you. I know that Mr. De Lancey, who An active is very sanguine on the business, has been active in procuring the e^niuration consent of many people to go, and as a settlement somewhere is ^ essentially necessary to them, I wish to be authorised to give Digitized by Google