“On the lid is an authentic picture of Copernicus, and in the inside thereof is a similar one of Napier. That of Copernicus is from the accurate copy of the Chancellor Hupazzuoski’s original picture, which was sent by the learned Dr. Wolf, of Dantzic, to the Royal Society of London; and this limning of mine is most faithfully delineated and shaded, from a drawing made by Mr. Thomas Parke, of Picadilly, formerly a pupil of Valentine Green, engraver at London, from the picture in the Royal Society, on a scale proportional in all parts and with great fidelity; so that I can assure you of my limning being a fac simile, as to the features and countenance. That of Napier[286] is indeed a most exquisitely beautiful piece, by John Brown, of Edinburgh, executed with the black-lead pencil, from an original portrait in the possession of Lord Napier; and, as a drawing with black-lead, excels, I believe, every thing of the kind now extant: Mr. Brown having by drawing, during twelve years in Italy, from statues, obtained a super-eminent accuracy and beauty of design. “I consecrate this interesting piece of furniture to American Science, and to the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia: willing, however, that in consideration of the high esteem I bear to you personally, you should have the custody and use of it in your own house, during your life; producing it only to the Society for the use of the Secretary, when you think proper. I have subjoined by way of postscript to this letter, some particulars relating to the Residence of Copernicus, and his Tomb; which I wish you to communicate to our Society.[287] “Permit me to repeat my earnest request, that you should be kind and attentive to the Bearer (and his Family,) who I hope will have the happiness to obtain a literary establishment in the United States, and prove of much utility to the public. I am, Sir, with esteem, your obliged humble servant— BUCHAN.” “DR. RITTENHOUSE, Pres. of the Am. Phil. Society.” ----- Footnote 285: The Right Hon. David Stewart Erskine, is the present Earl. Footnote 286: John Napier, called Baron of Merchiston, in Scotland, was the eldest son of Sir Archibald Napier, of Merchiston, and was born in the year 1550. As Lalande, in his _Astronomie_, observes—“he deserves to be celebrated in a book on Astronomy, for his invention of Logarithms, which he published in 1614. He had,” continues Mr. Lalande, “at first concealed the principle of this discovery: but Kepler soon penetrated it; and the son of Napier, in an edition of his father’s work, which he published, explained the ground of the principles.” The son here mentioned, Sir Archibald, was promoted to the peerage by Car. I. in the year 1657, and was ancestor of the present Lord Napier.