Hans Sloane

“ He also held the appointment of physician to the Prince of Wales, which he resigned, and abruptly quitted London for Jamaica in 1734. Writing to Sir Hans Sloane from Kingston in that island on 3 June 1736, he says : 'My misfortunes came so fast upon me, and my brother's provocations were so frequently repeated, that I was hurried in a manner to death about 'em' (Sloane MS. 4041, f. 9) . He died a few weeks afterwards, leaving no issue by his wife, Sarah Banckes, daughter of a merchant in Leadenhall Street. ”

“ Sir Hans Sloane, Bart., purchased the manor of William Lord Cheyne, the second and last Viscount Newhaven, in the year 1712. Sir Hans was descended from a family originally of Scotland, but settled in the north of Ireland, where he received his first education. At that early age he evinced a very strong inclination to study the works of Nature, which he pursued with uncommon application through the rest of his life. ”

“ He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1691, and displayed great interest in its proceedings; aided his friend, Sir Hans Sloane, in forming his scientific collections, and himself brought together a valuable collection of prints and mathematical instruments. He died at his London house in Red Lion Square ‘of a quinsey,’ and was buried at Sprotborough. ”

“ Lady Sundon was, meantime, ill at Bath, so that the queen's secret rested alone in her own heart. 'I have an ill,' she said, one evening, to her daughter Caroline, 'that nobody knows of.' Still, neither the princess nor Lord Hervey could guess at the full meaning of that sad assertion.
The famous Sir Hans Sloane was then called in; but no remedy except large and repeated bleedings were suggested, and blisters were put on her legs. There seems to have been no means left untried by the faculty to hasten the catastrophe—thus working in the dark. ”

“ Paultons Square and Paultons Terrace at Chelsea perpetuate his connection with the parish. The estate of Paultons passed, subject to the life interest of Stanley's sisters, to a cousin, Hans Sloane, nephew of Sir Hans Sloane. Stanley was one of the trustees for the collection of Sir Hans, and was until death a family trustee of the British Museum. ”

“ STANLEY, HANS (1720?–1780) , politician, was the only son of George Stanley of Paultons, near Owre, in the new parish of Copythorne, formerly North Eling, and close to Romsey in Hampshire. His father married in 1719 Sarah, elder daughter and coheiress of Sir Hans Sloane [q. v.] ; he committed suicide on 31 Jan. 1733–4; his wife survived until 19 April 1764. ”

“ Phil. Trans. he says, speaking of this true varnish-tree, that callicuts are painted with the juice of this shrub. But this bare assertion of his, without producing a proper authority, I am persuaded this Honourable Society will never admit as a matter of proof to invalidate the discovery of the Abbé Sauvages.
In looking over one of the numbers of Mr. Miller's Dictionary, under the title of Anacardium, I find he quotes a passage from Dr. Grew, which Sir Hans Sloane has placed among his observations on the Cashew-tree, Hist. Jam. vol. ii. p. ”

“ Sloane’s mental vigour long outlived his power of bodily locomotion. For years he could move from room to room, or on very bright days from room to garden, only by the aid of an invalid chair. In other respects, his health gave a weighty sanction to the counsel which he had been wont to give, not infrequently, in lieu of an invited but superfluous prescription. ‘I advise you’ he would say, ‘to what I practice myself. I never take physic when I am well. ”

“ Brand let his inscrutable gaze fall on the young man, appraised him a tailor's model and a saphead—somewhat unjustly it must be admitted—and let his gaze drift into space. Mr. Sloane had been weighed and found wanting, tried by the standards of the man from the West. ”

“ In that poignant cry Slone uttered his realization of the strange fate that had waited for the inevitable race between Wildfire and the King; he uttered his despairing love for Lucy, and his acceptance of death for her and himself. No horse could outrun wind-driven fire in a dry pine forest. Slone had no hope of that. How perfectly fate and time and place and horses, himself and his sweetheart, had met! Slone damned Joel Creech's insane soul to everlasting torment. To think—to think his idiotic and wild threat had come true—and come true with a gale in the pine-tops! ”

“ Sloan's mouth was close to the lawyer's ear. "There is another explanation. If the fellow is game, and anxious enough to reach the train to risk his neck for it, there's a path he could have taken which would get him there without his coming round this turn. I never thought it a possible thing till I saw his horse trotting on ahead of us without a rider." Then as Reuther came ambling up, "Young lady, don't let me scare you, but it looks now as if the young man had taken a short cut to the station, which, so far as I know, has never been taken but by one man before. ”

“ To Gordon Sloan, she seemed an intangible vision, a spirit of the woods, and for several charming moments he stood entranced, gazing down with hungry eyes upon this bewitching feast of womanhood. Finally, as though conscious of his concentered gaze, Marcia Loring turned her head slowly toward him and gazed shyly up into his face. Gordon Sloan was a man with not quite thirty-five years of existence, though fully fifty of experience, to his credit. ”

“ Slone had asked that question every day, more than once.
"Yes, he could—to-day. I know it," replied Lucy. "Oh—I get so—so excited. I—I make a fool of myself—over him. But to ride him—going like that—Lin! it's just glorious!"
"You sure can ride him," replied Slone. "I can't see a fault anywhere—in him—or in your handling him. He never breaks. He goes hard, but he saves something. He gets mad—fierce—all the time, yet he WANTS to go your way. ”

“ Find out about the formula for their mauve—you understand me—and come back mit it, and you get back your job and a hundred or seventy-five dollars.”
Sloane started. For a moment he stared at his employer, his face going red and pale again; then he rose to his feet.
“Sorry, Mr. Slivowitz, but I can’t consider it,” he said.
“Oh, come now, Mr. Sloane!” protested the dyer, with a laugh, leaning back in his chair. He produced a thick cigar and bit off the end. “These here scruples does you credit, Mr. Sloane, but business is business ”

“ And Mrs. Sloane went on her way smiling. “Diana! Diana!” she said to herself, “oh, to be young again! How you must enjoy it all!” She stopped. “Well, well, my dear! I never expected to see you rioting like this. Why are you so shy in some gardens? What’s this about not growing unless you are put in a draughty place?” And she lifted a trail of Tropæolum and put it on its right way.
Just outside Elsie’s gate Mrs. Sloane met Mr. Watkins. “You are coming in?”—and she held the gate open.
“Not to-day, I think,” said the weary Mr. Watkins, adding something about his soul’s solitude,—“not to-day!” ”

“ Suddenly Slone's ears rang with a terrible on-coming roar. For an instant the unknown sound stiffened him, robbed him of strength. Only the horn of the saddle, hooking into him, held him on. Then the years of his desert life answered to a call more than human.
He had to race against fire. He must beat the flame to the girl he loved. There were miles of dry forest, like powder. Fire backed by a heavy gale could rage through dry pine faster than any horse could run. He might fail to save Lucy. ”

“ You want a good man on second.”
“That might do,” answered Joe, “if Sloan can play second. Ever try it, Sloan?”
“I’ve played second a little,” Wayne answered. “I’ll be glad to try it again if you like.”
“Sure,” agreed Hoffman, swinging his mask, [157] “that’s the best way out of it. Beat it down there, Sloan, and I’ll slip you a few throws. You and Vic ought to work together finely.”
“All right,” said Captain Taylor, “we’ll try it that way. Billy White, you take third, will you? It’s just like Tad to fall down a shaft right in the middle of the season,” he ended grumblingly. ”

“ You saw how he got in the instant I stopped a moment, Sloan."
"Faith and I did," said Sloan, laughing, "and he hit you fellows in the ribs. Why, where'd he find it all out?"
"I'm blessed if I know, unless it was from the newspaper men. They get hold of almost everything,—wrong side foremost, as a rule, but they get it. Now I heard something of your talk last night. Brooks was speaking of it. He looks upon the Interstate Bill just as I do. What do you mean by saying it might [Pg 151] prove our salvation?" he asked, abruptly, turning to Forrest. ”

“ Masséna had better success at the other end, and succeeded in gathering sufficient material without great difficulty; his bridges between the two shores by the island of Lobau were ready on May twentieth. In this interval Charles advanced, and occupied a line farther forward in the great plain, stretching from hamlet to hamlet—from Korneuburg, Enzersfeld, and Gross-Ebersdorf to Strebersdorf. Eugène and Macdonald had reached Villach, whence they could march direct to Vienna; the Archduke John was at Völkermarkt, on his way down the Drave toward Hungary. ”

“ He wanted particularly [Pg 76] to talk to Berne Webster, but Sloane also had to be questioned.
"I thought you might explain," she continued hurriedly, preceding him down the hall toward her father's room, "that you will do exactly what I asked you to do—see that the mysterious part of this terrible affair, if there is any mystery in it—see that it's cleared up promptly. Please tell him you'll act for us in dealing with newspaper reporters; that you'll help us, not annoy us, not annoy him."
She had stopped at Sloane's door.
"And you?" Hastings delayed her knock. ”

“ Sloane’s wife, whom he married in 1695 and who died in 1724, was Elizabeth, daughter of Alderman Langley and widow of Ffulk Rose, of St. Catherine, who from 1675 to 1693 represented first St. Thomas-in-the-Vale, and afterwards St. John, in the House of Assembly.
Soon after the death of his patron, the Duke of Albemarle, Sloane returned to England. In 1693 he was secretary to the Royal Society, of which he edited the transactions for twenty years, contributing twenty-two papers. Of these one was an account of the earthquake of 1692 which destroyed Port Royal, already alluded to. ”

“ The plateau appeared to be ending in a series of great capes or promontories. Slone feared he would soon come out upon a promontory from which he might see the impossibility of further travel. He felt relieved down in the gullies, where he could not see far. He climbed out of one, presently, from which there extended a narrow ledge with a slant too perilous for any horse. He stepped out upon that with far less confidence than Nagger. To the right was a bulge of low wall, and a few feet to the left a dark precipice. ”

“ All of a sudden Lin Slone stood out clearer in her mental vision—the finest type of a rider she had ever known—a strong, lithe, magnificent horseman, whose gentleness showed his love for horses, whose roughness showed his power—a strange, intense, lonely man in whom she had brought out pride, gratitude, kindness, passion, and despair. She felt her heart swell at the realization that she had changed him, made him kinder, made him divide his love as did her father, made him human, hopeful, longing for a future unfettered by the toils of desert allurement. ”

“ Then the game started, Nye in the box for the Badgers, Dan Young catching, LaCroix on first in place of Morgan, Jones playing third for Bennett, and an unknown at second. The umpire had announced the latter’s name as Sloan, or something like that, but no one had ever seen him before or heard of him. He was a well-set-up youngster and, in spite of the spills he had made during practice, carried himself like a ball player. The “fans” watched him and reserved judgment, asking each other how Steve had managed to get hold of him at less than a half-hour’s notice. ”

“ It had never occurred to him that a woman could become companionable on intellectual grounds, yet while she sat there facing him, with the light on her brow and lips, and her look of distinction and remoteness as of one who has in some way been set apart from personal joy or sorrow, he realized that she was as utterly detached as Sloane had been when he discoursed on the functions of government. ”

“ Slone evidently controlled his temper, though his face remained white. He even smiled at her.
"You are Bostil's daughter," he said.
"Yes."
"You are blood an' bone, heart an' soul a rider, if any girl ever was. You're a wonder with a horse—as good as any man I ever saw. You love Wildfire. An' look—how strange! That wild stallion—that killer of horses, why he follows you, he whistles for you, he runs like lightnin' for you; he LOVES you."
Slone had attacked Lucy in her one weak point. She felt a force rending her. She dared not look at Wildfire. Yes—all, that was true Slone had said. ”

“ Wayne smiled wanly. “Not very well, sir. I—I reckon I’m sort of nervous.”
“Of course you are! You’ll forget that, though. [292] Don’t take it too hard, Sloan, or you’ll pull a boner, sure as shooting. Keep cool, that’s the main thing. Use your head all the time. I’m not expecting miracles, son,” he added kindly. “Just do your best. That’s all I’m asking of you. Can you hit?”
“I—yes, sir. I mean, I have hit some, but——”
“All right. We’ll soon see. Better try to wait him out the first time. Watch his pitching and try to make him give you what you can hit after that. All right, fellows! ”