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Doc. 309.] 809
THE MISSING MANUSCRIPTS.
"Mr. Peckitt, as we have been assured by his excellent
son, regarded this MS. as the property of the Academy of
Sciences, and himself, as holding it for that body, simply in
the character of a trustee. The French Revolution, however,
had now burst forth in all its fury, rendering all intercourse
between the different nations of Europe a matter of imminent
risk ; its return, therefore, was necessarily postponed, and no
opportunity for its transmission presenting itself in his life
time, Mr. Peckitt left it in his will to two of his friends, Messrs.
Sibly272 and Darwin, and placed in one of the volumes a loose
memorandum to the effect that he held them for the Academy.
This memorandum was subsequently lost, and the MS. having
been delivered to the legatees , as directed in the will , was,
we doubt not, mistakenly regarded by them as a pure gift,
they not knowing otherwise than that it was held by Mr. Peckitt
in full and absolute right.
"That this is a correct view of the case we feel assured
on several grounds. For, first, neither Mr. Sibly272 nor Mr.
Darwin were acquainted with the heavenly doctrines until some
time after the MSS. were brought over. Mr. Sibly certainly
did not become acquainted with them until the year 1787, and
Mr. Darwin’s reception was, we understand, still later, in 1794.
Secondly, it is our opinion, that neither they, nor even the
widow of Mr. Peckitt, were ever informed of the history of
the MSS., and we say this with the more confidence, because
we know as a fact, that, subsequently to the delivering of the
original of the Apocalypsis Explicata to Messrs. Sibly and
Darwin, it was purchased from them by Mrs. Peckitt, for-as
we are informed-the sum offifty pounds. Need we say that
it is utterly improbable that she would have purchased, or
they have sold the MS., for such a sum, had either party been
aware that it was simply held upon trust ? To suppose this,
would imply extreme folly on the part of Mrs. Peckitt, and
gross dishonesty on that of two of the worthiest of men. Mr.
Sibly not only ministered gratuitously to his society, but
frequently contributed pecuniary aid toward its support ; and
Mr. Darwin was, we understand, an example of integrity such
as has not often been presented to the world ; for when he
found his affairs deranged by the misconduct of one in whom
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