Thus, my Lord, I have had the honor of giving your Lordship a faithful narrative of my observations during this eruption, which is universally allowed to have been the most violent of this century; and I shall be happy, if it should meet with your approbation, and that of the Royal Society, if your Lordship should think it worthy of being communicated to so respectable a body.
I have just sent a present to the British Museum of a complete collection of every sort of matter produced by Mount Vesuvius, which I have been collecting with some pains for these three years past; and it will be a great satisfaction to me, if, by the means of this collection, some of my countrymen, learned in natural history, may be enabled to make some useful discoveries relative to Volcanos[13].
I have also accompanied that collection with a view of a current of lava from Mount Vesuvius; it is painted with transparent colours, and, when lighted up with lamps behind it, gives a much better idea of Vesuvius, than is possible to be given by any other sort of painting.
I have the honor to be,
My Lord,
Your Lordship's
Most obedient
and most humble servant,
William Hamilton.
