Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Botany, Medical Practitioners, Invention

    Notes Erasmus Darwin's scepticism about the authenticity of Anna Seward's poetry and criticises Seward's Memoirs of the Life of Dr Darwin for lacking 'penetration and delineation of character'. Quotes from the work its claim to offer a study of Darwin's 'powers as a philosopher, physician, and poet' and an 'investigation of the constituted excellencies and defects' of Darwin's magnificent Botanic Garden. According to Seward, 'a knot of philosophic friends', including Rev Mitchell, James Kier, Matthew Boulton, James Watt, and Dr Small, arose from 'rus in urbe of Darwinian creation', Lichfield. (155) Describes Seward's claim that Darwin appropriated lines of her poetry for his Botanic Garden.