Brewer, Samuel

, a botanist, whose connection with Dillenius entitles him to some notice, was originally of Trowbridge, in Wiltshire, in which county he had a small estate. He was engaged at one time in the woollen manufactory of that place, but it is thought was unsuccessful. He attended Dillenius into Wales, Anglesey, and the Isle of Man, in the summer of 1726, and afterwards remained the winter, and the greater part of the next year, in that country; making his residence at Bangor, and taking his excursions to Snowdon and elsewhere. While in Wales, it was intended that he should have gone over to Ireland to make a botanical tour through that kingdom; but that expedition never took place. So long a residence gave him an opportunity, not only of seeing the beauties of summer plants, but of collecting the Cryptogamia in winter, when they flourish most. Here he received instructions from Dillenius, collected specimens of every thing rare, or unknown to him before, and sent them to Dillenius to determine the species, and fix the names. This journey appears to have been designed to promote Dillenius’ s “Appendix to the Synopsis.” In 1728, Mr. Brewer went into Yorkshire, and resided the remainder of his days at Bradford, in the neighbourhood of Dr. Richardson, by whose beneficence he was assisted in various ways. After his retirement into Yorkshire, he meditated, and nearly finished a work which was to have borne the title of “The Botanical Guide,” but it never appeared. The time of | his decease has not been determined, but he is said to have been living in 1742. His passion for English botany, and his skill and assiduity, enabled him to afford singular assistance to Dillenius, especially in the subjects for his “History of Mosses.” ¹