There are in the Sloane Mss. in the British museum, 3321, fo. 161, 4038, fo. 224, several letters from this Edmund Bohun to Mr. Petiver the botanist and to Mr. afterwards Sir Hans Sloane. These eminent naturalists had evidently enlisted him in their service; and the letters, while they furnish an example of the obliging diligence to which all great collectors have been indebted, show that a personal friendship existed between the parties. Writing from Charles Towne, March 8th 1699-1700, Mr. Bohun says he has been endeavouring to increase the number of Mr. Petiver's correspondents; and hopes, before the summer goes, to procure 'a good parcel of plants, etc.' and 'some minerals' which 'lye in the mountains.’ He addresses the same correspondent, from Carolina, April 18th 1700, as follows: My friend, I have sent you, by Capt. Taylor, two volumes of plants. I have taken the best care I could in collecting them; but I hope you will consider this is the first time I ever did anything [xxvi] of that kind. I have sent you a bottle of rum, with such things as I could get. I dare say some of them are not common in England. I have sent you such land shells as come in my way. They are not very common here to be met with. Your friend Mr. Ellis has got and sent you, with these things, above a hundred butterflies... Pray, by the first opportunity, send me some garden seeds to oblige some of my friends here with, who are very careful to furnish me with such things as come in their way. Pray give my hearty service to my good friends Dr. Hause and Mr. Buddle. I wish you all health and happiness, and beg leave to conclude, sir, your sincere friend, Edmund Bohun. p. s. I pray send me some of your printed directions, and some boxes, which I will take care shall be left with some careful friends here. Pray send me some pickle cowcumer seed, and corn poppy seed, and nastertian or Capuchin caper, for Sir Nathaniel Johnson [1644–1712, planter and cassique in the Carolina assemly]. I have sent you a piece of 8-8 by the captain, to drink with you and my two friends within named. Direct to Mr. Ellis and myself at Nicholas Trott's esq. Charles Towne, Carolina.’

The Rev. Adam Buddle, was another of the constellation of botanists who shone so brightly, before Linnaeus eclipsed the earlier luminaries. Pulteney, 'Sketches of botany,' ii, 345. Sir Nathaniel Johnson was afterwards governor of South Carolina. He is remarkable for having tried to introduce the raising a vegetable ‘silk' and an endowed church; as well as for his defence of the province against the Spaniards and French in 1706, and his less successful stand, in 1719, against those who, in the next year, threw themselves under the immediate protection of the crown of Great Britain.' Holmes, ‘Annals of America,' i, 486, 492, 495, 521, 522. Nicholas Trott was 'attorney general and naval officer' and afterwards chief justice. Hinton, ‘History of the United States,' i, 213. Trott appears to have edited, ‘Laws of the British plantations in America relating to the church and the clergy, religion, and learning.' Lond. 1721, fol. The Trotts of Beccles were worshipful men in the time of Charles the first. Matthew Trott was register of the court of the commissary of Suffolk; and a ‘Nicholas Trott' had the living of Ringsfield in 1663.

Mr. Bohun addresses Mr. Petiver as follows, from Charles Towne, April 20th 1700. My friend, your two too kind letters, by Capt. Man, came to my hands yesterday. He has had a dismal passage, three months coming, and the small pox on board... My spider catcher is dead; however I shall train up some more to perform that work. Mr. Ellis who lives with me in the country, is very dextrous, and has sent you many very fine butterflies. Capt. More you mention is a very ingenious gentleman, sure enough; but I fear he will not make a good philosopher, being otherwise full of employment, and, besides, his genius does not lie that way. He is my father's successor. Never fear but that I will take the best care I can to settle you a good correspondence here. Pray send me some green broome, a small quantity for a medicine, for a friend of mine here. I hear here are cochineeles; but more of that hereafter, when I am better satisfied of the truth. I must beg leave to conclude, sir, your real and sincere friend, Edmund Bohun.

'Capt. More' may have been James Moore who was 'secretary' under governor Blake when chief justice Bohun entered on his office. The provincial council had probably exercised in his favour the power, conferred upon them by the lords proprietors, of appointing a chief justice temporarily, in the event of the death of that functionary. Moore was afterwards governor. Hinton, i, 208. The lords proprietors issued a commission to the honourable Robert Gibbs to be chief justice, 11th December 1708.

Again: we have a letter to Mr. Petiver dated 'Goose creek, Carolina, July 16th 1700. My friend, I have sent you, by my countryman Mr. Bedford, a small parcel of the seed of the sweet scented laurel or tulip tree; which flowers in May and June. It bears a very sweet flower and grows in wet ground. I have made you a very pretty collection of insects, and about six or seven volumes of plants, with six or seven hundred butterflies and moths, some very fine and scarce; but cannot send them now... I remain your sincere and hearty friend, Edmund Bohun.' r. s. 'It is very hard to get seeds in this place; for they are no sooner ripe but gone.'

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In a communication dated 'Carolina, Nov. 9th-15th 1700,' Mr. Bohun addresses the same correspondent: I shall send you by a friend, Capt. Man, my last summer's collection, viz. two volumes of plants; two bottles of rum; one large box with two volumes of butterflies; and some seeds of flowering trees; one small box of insects. You had had a much larger collection, but two unhappy accidents hindered me. I lost two volumes of plants, curiously preserved, in a hurricane that blowed downe my friend's house where they were; and I have had three months' sickness, which much weakened me and was a great hindrance to the progress I intended in your affairs. Expect more, by the next opportunity, from, sir, your most sincere and hearty friend, Edmund Bohun.'

A little later Mr. Bohun thus checks the somewhat unreasonable urgency of his nature-loving friends: You expect collections every month: which, considering the distance I am from towne at the times of ships coming away, you must excuse me. Those collections Mr. Ellis and I have made last summer, and those we shall make betwixt this and March, I intend to bring with me… . Pray give my hearty service to Dr. Udall, and let him know I shall always, to the utmost of my power, be ready to serve him; but I cannot bring him any bulbous roots; for we have none near us that I know of.'

On the point of leaving the colony, to take possession of the estates which had devolved upon him by the death of his father, Mr. Bohun writes to Mr. Petiver as follows. 'Carolina, April 28th 1701. My friend: I take this opportunity, by Capt. Flavell, to let you know I intend, if I live, to see you shortly. I shall come in the Meremaid brigantine, Capt. Martin commander; who will saile in ten dayes after Capt. Flavell. I shall bring my collection with me; which, for insects, I think I may say, without vanity, is the largest and most compleat that ever you saw from Carolina. Plants you had had more, if the hurricane had not destroyed them. Mr. Ellis is well and sends his service to you, and will take care, in my absence, to supply you with all that he can get. But you must send him some garden seeds every year, to supply his friends with, or else you cannot expect that the country people here will be very ready to give him any assistance. For without some help from them a man can doe but little. This, with my kind love and hearty service to all my friends, and to major Halsted, is all from, sir, your friend and servant, Edmund Bohun.