Wednesday July 12th
{MS page 19}
We did not rise till near 8 O'Clock. As soon as we had Breakfasted I went to the Post Office & there found Letters. That from Dr. Stokes33 enclosed introductory Letters to Mr. Hinckes34 & Miss Hutchins.35 The former is lecturer & chief Manager to a Scientific Institution lately established here36 & on him we immediately called but found to our no small disappointment that he was in Dublin & will not return till Monday. We rambled about the City till 12 & then went in our Chaise to the new Botanic Garden which is now nearly completed & is under the Direction of Mr. Drummond37 to whom we introduced ourselves. The garden which is extensive & judiciously laid out belongs to the above mentioned Scientific Institution for the general purposes of which about £2000 has been subscribed, & a grant to the Society of £2000 a year. Mr. Drummond is a long headed {MS page 20} young Scotchman with a broader dialect than I ever before heard, & is an excellent Botanist. Considering that he has been in Ireland but a year his Discoveries have been very numerous & bear ample testimony to his zeal & perseverance. In the Garden he shewed us a Plant which one of the Laborers in the Garden brought him from the neighboring Fields, but which he has since sought for in vain.38 We all united in opinion that it is quite new to the British Flora. He took us to a place called Black Rock on the River's side about a Mile from the City.39 {MS page 21} Mr. Drummond dined with us at our Hotel, & after Dinner we accompanied him to see the Library & Collections of the Institution which as well as the Gardens are yet in their Infancy. The Society's
Mr. Leach this afternoon took a Cork Bank Note for £1-14-1 1/2 which {MS page 22} seems a very strange sum till we recollected that it is equivalent to a Guinea & a half English. These Notes are in common circulation as are also others for three shillings and nine pence halfpenny. We reached our Inn about 1/2 past 10 & in an hour after went to bed.