Item data
Item Type:
Document
From:
Serra, José Francisco Corrêa de
Sent from:
Penzance, Cornwall
To:
Smith, Sir James Edward
Summary:
Due to a "hellish plot" instigated by the Inquisitor General has been obliged to leave Portugal. [Pierre Marie Auguste] Broussonet will inform Smith of what he saw of it. In his haste to leave did not acquire the necessary passport to enter England and asks for assistance from Smith and Sir Joseph Banks. He cannot apply to the Portuguese Ambassador to England, the Chevalier Almeyda, as he is a relative of the Inquisitor General, which also prevents him for choosing England for his asylum. Reminds Smith that he once did a similar deed for their common friend Broussonet in Lisbon. Informs Smith that his ship is the "Sloop Mary" captained by Anthony Roskruge although it is currently held at Penzance by the government's embargo on all ships coming from abroad. Has taken the pseudonym Joseph Porto. Laments his situation, comparing it to happier times as described in Smith's "Tour of the Continent".
Letter date:
13 Apr 1795
Languages:
English
Prev Ref No:
3.173
Additional Information:
| Note type | Note |
|---|
| Finding Aids | Dawson, W R, (1934). "Catalogue of the manuscripts in the Library of The Linnean Society - Part I. The Smith papers: The correspondence and miscellaneous papers of Sir James Edward Smith", London: Linnean Society. |
| Related Material | For letter from Banks to Smith stating that a passport for Serra has been requested from the mayor of Falmouth, Cornwall, see JES/COR/1/53. Further discussion of Serra's exile see JES/COR/3/96; JES/COR/3/98; JES/COR/3/103; JES/COR/3/111. For Serra's assistance to Broussonet see JES/COR/6/15-16.
Smith, J E, (1793). "A sketch of a tour on the Continent in the years 1786 and 1787" London. |
| Publn Note | Smith, P (ed.), (1832). "Memoir and correspondence of... Sir James Edward Smith" London: Longman, vol 2, pp.204-207. |
