Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/198

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NOTES AND QUERIES: [ii s. iv. SEPT. 2, 1911.

and a chearful conversation. All his acquaint- ance experienced his benevolent temper, and his poor neighbours frequently partook of his bounty.

" His diffidence and humility were always apparent, and to persons who had a taste for studies congenial to his own, he was a most entertaining, as well as communicative, com- panion." P. 25.

Edwards, as already mentioned, travelled in Europe, but never out of it. In vol. ii. of the ' Birds ' there is given as a final illustration a chart of his travels with a full description (pp. 120-21).

" The Curucui of Marcgraue," MB. PENRY LEWIS'S second drawing, refers to the species Trogon curucui (pronounced Suruqua). Paulus Henricus Gerardus Moehring in his 'Avium Genera' (Aurich, Prussia, 1752) described the bird as the "curucui of Marc- graue." The latter name is not, however, that of a place, but that of the historian of Brazil, who had in 1648 described this bird in his 'Historia Rerum Naturalium Bra- siliae,' latinizing his name as "Georgius Marggravius." In 1769 Pennant in his ' Indian Zoology ' anglicized the word " curucui " as " couroucou."

It will have been seen how Edwards got the birds themselves from which he made his drawings. I have shown that vol. vii. of the book was dedicated to Earl Ferrers, who, when he was Capt. Shirley, had con- tributed a number of birds captured by him, and intended for Madame de Pompadour's collection.

Edwards was fortunate in having wealthy and zealous patrons, and vol. vi. of the ' Birds ' contains the names of the Duke of Richmond, Sir Hans Sloane, Dr. Richard Mead, and Martin Folkes. Edwards' s own account of his visiting Sir Hans Sloane in the latter' s last days was too long for in- clusion in the ' D.X.B.,' but perhaps space may be found for it here. It occurs in the sixth volume of the work, Preface, pp. iii and iv :

" Sir Hans Sloane. . . .employed me, fora great number of years, in drawing miniature figures of animals, etc. after nature, in water-colours, to encrease his very great collection of fine drawings by other hands ; which drawings are now all fixed in the British Museum, for the help and information of those in future generations, that may be curious or studious in Natural History. Sir Hans, in the decline of his life, left London, and retired to his manor-house at Chelsea, where he resided about fourteen years, before he died. After his retirement to Chelsea, he requested it as a favour to him (though I embraced his request as an honour done to myself) that I would visit him every week, in order to divert him, for an hour or two, with the common news of the town, and with any thing particular that should happen amongst his acquaintance of the

Royal Society, and other ingenious Gentlemen, many of whom I was weekly conversant with ; and I seldom missed drinking coffee with him on a Saturday, during the whole time of his retire- ment at Chelsea. He was so infirm as to be wholly confined to his house, except sometimes, though rarely, taking a little air in his garden in a wheeled chair ; and this confinement made him very desirous to see any of his old acquaintance to amuse him. He was always strictly careful, that I should be at no expense in my journeys from London to Chelsea to wait on him, knowing that I did not super-abound in the gifts of fortune : he would calculate what the expense of coach- hire, waterage, or any other little charge that might attend on my journeys backward and for- ward, would amount to, and would oblige me annually to accept of it, though I would willingly have declined it. During this latter part of his life, he was frequently petitioned for charity by some decayed branches of families of eminent men, late of his acquaintance, who were famous for their learned works, etc. which petitions he always received, and considered with attention ; and, provided they were not found fraudulent, they were always answered by his charitable donations : he has often desired that I would inquire into the merits of such petitioners ; and, if found satis- factory, he commissioned me to convey his bounty to the distressed.

" The last time I saw him, I was greatly sur- prised and concerned to find so good a man in the agonies of death : this was on the tenth day of January, 1753, at four o'clock in the after- noon : he died on the eleventh, at four in the morning. I continued with him later than any of his relations, but was obliged to retire, his last agonies being beyond what I could bear ; though under his pain and weakness of body he seemed to retain a great firmness of mind, and resignation to the will of God."

Various scientific papers written by Edwards were reprinted by Robson with his so-called ' Memoirs ' in 1776. At the end of this volume there is an index to all the birds and beasts described in Edwards's works : * The Elements of Fossilology,' attributed to Edwards in the ' D.N.B.,' was not by him, but by another person of the same name.

Edwards had two sisters, who did not long survive him, but died within a few hours of each other and were buried together. His library was sold in 1774 by James Robson as that of " a person of- distinction.'*

Of portraits there are several. That by Dandridge, engraved by Miller, is in vol. r. of the ' Birds.' The one by Gosset, also engraved by Miller, is from a wax model, and in profile. It is in Robson's ' Memoirs.' A small steel engraving appears in ' Lives of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain,' 1820, plate 60. There are also two vignetted heads in the B.M.

The best account of Edwards is that which can be pieced together from his own book. Kippis, vol. v. pp. 552-8, gives the