A very large parcel of curious {¡hells, corals, and other marine productions,
many of them beautiful and rare. Befides many other particulars.
Of thefe curiofities, the (hells alone Dr. Fothergill had valued at two hundred
pounds: yet neither the (hells, nor any thing elfe, hath Jofeph Banks to this day returned
me. The reaions he gives for the detention are, that I have ufed hirn ill •,
that he hath given a valuable coniideration for them j and, in ihort, that he will
keep them. Of this pretended valuable coniideration I am now to fpeak. On
the readinefs I (hewed to oblige Jofeph Banks with fuch of the (hells as he might not
have in his collection, Dr. Fothergill informed me, that Jofeph Banks, in great good
humour and apparent generofity, told him, he had much reafon'to be fatisfied with
the ferviees of Sydney Parkinfon, and the chearfulnefs with which he executed
other drawings than thofe of his own department j fupplying, in faCt, the lofs of
Jofeph Banks’s other draughtfman, who died in the beginning of the voyage. On
this account, Jofeph Banks was pleafed to fay, it had been his conftant intention to
make Sydney Parkinfon a very handfome prefent, had he lived to return to England.
His intention was now to take place, therefore, towards his brother and
fifter; to whom he would make the like prefent, in coniideration of fuch extra-
fervice, or, as Jofeph Banks himfelf expreffed it, a douceur to the family for the lofs
they fuftained in the death of fo valuable a relation. There being due to the de-^
ceafed upwards of a hundred and fifty pounds falary, the foie property of my lifter
Britannia, and Jofeph Banks chufing to keep fome of the effeCts bequeathed to
me, as beforementioned, it was agreed, between Dr. Fothergill and Jofeph Banks,
that the latter ihould make up the fum five hundred pounds, to be paid into the
hands of me and my fifter.
Matters being thus fettled, a meeting of all parties was agreed on ; which took
place on the 31ft of January, 1772, when I waited on Jofeph Banks with my fifter
Britannia, meeting there Dr. Fothergill according to appointment.* After a ihort
introduction,
* It may not be improper to obferve here, .that I propofefl to Dr.'Fothergill the taking my attorney
with, me on the oceafion :, but this the doftor oppofed j faying,“ No, by no means, Jofeph Banks
** will be offended.”
P R E F A C E . xv
introduction, Jofeph Banks, inftead of enquiring about my letters of adminiftration,
as I expeCted, produced, for iis tofign, a receipt, written on damped paper, and
couched in the ftrongeft terms of a general releafe, in which he himfelf was (tiled
executor, or adminiftrator, to the laft will of my brother ; and, as I underftood ir,
importing a renunciation of my right of adminiftration in favour of Jofeph Banks.
This furprizing me, I immediately took out of my pocket the letters of adminiftration,
which I had myfelf procured by Jofeph Banks’s advice and direction ;
upon which he feemed highly difpleafed, flew into a great paflion, and faid the
whole affair was then overturned : but, on thé interpofitiori of Dr. Fothergill, and
my repfefenting to him that what I had done Was by his own order, he having
befote told me it was rieceffary, arid that till I had adminiftered he could not fettle
with me, he became fomewhat pacified, and agreed to pay the five hundred pounds,
on receiving a Common receipt, deferring the execution of a general-releafe to another
opportunity; This receipt was dictated, to the beft of my remembrance, by
Dr. Fothergill, and was figned by me and my fifter Britannia ; I leaving with Jofeph
Banks my letters of adminiftration, for the purpofe of having a more proper
and formal releafe drawn up. Before the figning of the above receipt, however,
I defired Jofeph Banks to deliver me that bundle of my brother’s manufcripts,
which he had before (hewn me : On which Dr. Fothergill interfered ; and, faying
they ihould be returned him, and no improper ufê made of them, Jofeph Banks delivered
them.
While Jofeph Banks was gone to fetch the papers, I intimated to Dr. Fother-
gillj that, the (hells and other curiofities not having been returned me according to
promifo, it was proper to take notice of it now, and that, unlefs they were returned,
I would hot fign the receipt. But to this intimation Dr. Fothergill haftily
replied, No, no ; thou feeft he. is.now in a paflion, and.it will be improper to
“ fpeak of them j” adding, that he placed fo much confidence in Jofeph Banks’s
integrity, that he would anfwer for the return of at leaft the greateft part of them.
And thus our meeting ended.
On the examination of the papers, thus delivered to me by Jofeph Banks, I
found them to be the memorandums and materials, from which, I conceived, my
bfoiher