The “pedestrian traveller” Maurice Spillard (fl. 1777–1800): botanist in North America?
In the 1790s, newspapers in Britain, Ireland and the United States carried brief reports about the activities of Maurice Spillard, described as a “celebrated English pedestrian traveller”. Spillard, who may have been Irish, served in the British forces during the American Revolutionary War in the late 1770s. His exploits as a “pedestrian” were reported to have included botanical and geographical exploration, particularly in eastern and central North America including the Mississippi and Missouri basins, in which he was improbably linked with Lord Edward Fitzgerald. Spillard's botanical collections (including seeds and living plants), if they existed, were reported to have been seized by French privateers, resulting in a decree by the French Minister for the Navy requesting the safe return of this property. Spillard had contacts in London, including with the publisher Cadell & Davies, who paid an advance to Spillard. Said to have died in Dublin in 1800, Spillard reappeared in Paris in 1802, when his claims were refuted by Milfort Tastenagy (Jean-Antoine Le Clerc), and the “pedestrian traveller” was shown up as a fraud.
Book Reviews : THE GENESIS OF THE UNITED STATES.—A narrative of the move ment in England, I605-I6I6, which resulted in the plantation of North America by Englishmen, disclosing the contest between Eng land and Spain for the possession of the soil now occupied by the United States of America ; set forth through a series of historical manuscripts, now first printed, together with a re-issue of rare con temporaneous Tracts, accompanied by bibliographical memoranda, notes, and brief biographies, collected, arranged, and edited by ALEXANDER BROWN, with I00 portraits, maps, and plans. 2 vols. Pp. xxxviii, II57. Boston : Houghton, Miffiin & Co., I890
