James Jurin wrote Letter L-596 to Maria van Leeuwenhoek thanking her for sending the cabinet with 26 magnifying glasses
The date is New Style, which was eleven days ahead of the Old Style date of 18 November used by Jurin in London.
In this letter, James Jurin thanks Maria van Leeuwenhoek for sending her father’s bequest to the Royal Society.
MS. copy Wellcome MS. 6143
Crane Court,
Nov 18th 1723
Madam,
If it were possible for any thing to make an addition to the honour, esteem, & affection, wch ye Royal Society has ever born to your Worthy Father, while living, & wch they will always continue to pay to his Memory; it must be the valuable Present, wch he was pleased to bequeath to them by his last Will & Testament, & wch they have safely receiv'd by ye hands of your Kinsman, Mr Abraham Edens. They have thereby had the Pleasure of being Eye Witnesses of the exactness of many of his Observations, & of the Excellency of his Glasses. But neither of these Considerations does so much enhance the value of this Legacy, as that it was the last Mark of the affection of their oldest & most valuable Correspondent. I am order'd, Madam, by the Society to return you their most affectionate & particular thanks for the care you have been pleas'd to take in transmitting this Present to them, & to assure you in their Name, that they sincerely take part in the affliction occasion'd by the Loss of so good a Father & so great a Man, not only to your self but to the whole Learned World. Give me leave to assure you, that my own Particular Sentiments herein are entirely agreable to those of the Royal Society, in consequence of that share of his Friendship wth which Mr Leeuwenhoek was pleas'd to honour me, & that I am with the greatest sincerity & respect, Madam,
Your most humble and most obedient Servant,
J. Jurin, R.S. Secr.
