JOHN JAMES, who translated Le Blond's "Theory and Practice of Gardening, wherein is fully handled all that relates to fine gardens, commonly called Pleasure-gardens," cuts, 4to. 1712.

M. STEVENSON published in small 4to. 1661, a book called The Twelve Months, being a Treatise on Husbandry and Gardening.

The Rev. HENRY STEVENSON, of East Retford, published "The Young Gardener's Director," 1716, 12mo. He has introduced Mr. Evelyn's advice as to having salads in each month. There is a neat cut of flower-knots, and the frontispiece exhibits a curious old garden. In the preface he says, "not to mention the profit to a family, nothing conduces more to a man's health, especially to one that lives a sedentary life. If these observations and experiments I have made in gardening, be of use to any by drawing him to a way of diversion that will preserve his health, and perhaps put him upon a meditation on the great works of the creation, let him give the Creator the praise." He also published "The Gentleman Gardener Instructed;" eighth edition, 12mo. 1769.

DAVID STEVENSON, in 1746, published in 12mo. The Gentleman Gardener Instructed. Is this the same book as the above?

STEPHEN SWITZER, of whose private history so very little is known, but whose works shew him to have been an honest, unassuming, humane, religious, most industrious, and ingenious man. We only know that he had a garden on Milbank, and another near Vauxhall; and that he died, I believe, about 1745. He dates his Letter on the Cythesis, from New Palace Yard, 1730. He was a native of Hampshire; for in his Fruit Gardener, speaking of walnut-trees, he says, "The best I ever saw are those that grow upon chalk. Such are those that grow about Ewell, near Epsom, and in many places of my own native county of Hampshire, there being one cut down some few years ago in the Park belonging to the Right Honourable the Lady Russell, at Stratton, that did spread, at least, fifty yards diameter." He acknowledges, without murmuring, his meanness of fortune, and his having industriously submitted "to the meanest labours of the scythe, spade, and wheel-barrow." He became, however, eminent in his day, and added much to the beauty and magnificence of the gardens of many of our chief nobility and gentry. He wrote a history of the art he so loved, and therefore his classic History of Gardening, prefixed to his Ichnographia Rustica, merits the perusal of every one attached to gardens; and paints in strong colours his own devotion to that art; and which he thus concludes:—"In short, next to the more immediate duties of religion, 'tis in the innocency of these employs, thus doing, thus planting, dressing, and busying themselves, that all wise and intelligent persons would be found, when Death, the king of terrors, shall close their eyes, and they themselves be obliged to bid an eternal farewell to these and all other sublunary pleasures;" and he who was thus fond of breathing the sweet and fragrant air of gardens, thus expresses his own (perhaps expiring) wish in the lines of Cowley:

Sweet shades, adieu! here let my dust remain, Covered with flowers, and free from noise and pain; Let evergreens the turfy tomb adorn, And roseate dews (the glory of the morn) My carpet deck; then let my soul possess The happier scenes of an eternal bliss.

He asks "What solid pleasure is there not to be found in gardening? Its pursuit is easy, quiet, and such as put neither the body nor mind into those violent agitations, or precipitate and imminent dangers that many other exercises (in themselves very warrantable) do. The end of this is health, peace, and plenty, and the happy prospect of felicities more durable than any thing in these sublunary regions, and to which this is (next to the duties of religion) the surest path." His attachment to some of our own poets, and to the classic authors of antiquity, discovers itself in many of his pages; and his devout turn of mind strongly shines throughout. His allusion to Homer, in vol. iii. page 7, sufficiently shews how ardently this industrious servant, this barrow wheeler, must have searched the great writers of ancient times, to discover their attachment to rural nature, and to gardens. His candid and submissive mind thus speaks:—"If we would, therefore, arrive at any greater perfection than we are in gardening, we must cashiere that mathematical stiffness in our gardens, and imitate nature more; how that is to be done, will appear in the following chapters, which though they may not be, as new designs scarce ever are, the most perfect, it will at least excite some after-master to take pen and pencil in hand, and finish what is here thus imperfectly begun, and this is my comfort, that I shall envy no man that does it. I have, God be praised, learned to admire, and not envy every one that outgoes me: and this will, I hope, go a great way in making me easy and happy under the pressures of a very narrow fortune, and amidst the ruffles of an ill-natured world. I have tasted too severely of the lashes of man, to take any great satisfaction in any thing but doing my duty."[39] In his devout and magnificent Essay on the Sun, he says, "'tis admirable that this planet should, through so many ages of the world, maintain an uninterrupted course, that in so many thousands of revolving years, it should retain the same light, heat, and vigour, and every morning renew its wonted alacrity, and dart its cherishing beams on these dull and gloomy scenes of melancholy and misery, and yet that so few of us rightly consider its power, or are thankful to Divine Omnipotence for it. The great Roscommon (not greater than good) speaks of it with divine transport, and exhorts mankind to admire it, from the benefits and celestial beams it displays on the world:—

Great eye of all, whose glorious ray Rules the bright empire of the day; O praise his name, without whose purer light Thou hadst been hid in an abyss of night."[40]

Switzer (as appears from the Preface to his Iconologia) was so struck with the business and pleasures of a country life, that he collected, or meant to collect, whatever he could respecting this subject, scattered up and down as they were in loose irregular papers and books; but this work, we regret to say, never made its appearance. That he would have done this well, may be guessed at from so many of his pages recording what he calls "the eternal duration" of Virgil's works, or those of "the noble and majestic" Milton:—

Flowers worthy of Paradise, which no nice art In beds, and curious knots, but nature boon Pour'd forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain.

Though prim regularity, and "parterres embroidered like a petticoat," were in his time in high vogue, yet his pages shew his enlarged views on this subject, and the magnificent ideas he had formed, by surrounding them by rural enclosures, (probably by reading Mr. Addison), perfumed with blossoms, and bespangled with the rich tufts of nature. Nothing, he says, is now so much wanted to complete the grandeur of the British nation, as noble and magnificent gardens, statues, and water-works; long extended shady walks, and groves, and the adjacent country laid open to view, and not bounded by high walls. The pleasant fields, and paddocks, in all the beautiful attire of nature, would then appear to be a part of it, and look as if the adjacent country were all a garden. Walls take away the rural aspect of any seat; wood, water, and such like, being the noble and magnificent decorations of a country villa. Switzer calls water the spirit and most enchanting beauty of nature. He is so struck with "the beautifulness and nobleness of terrace walks," and particularly with that truly magnificent and noble one, belonging to the Right Honourable the Earl of Nottingham, at Burleigh-on-the-Hill, that "for my own part I must confess, that that design creates an idea in my mind greater than I am well able to express." In his chapter of "Woods and Groves," he enforces "a particular regard to large old oaks, beech, and such like trees; in which case, one would as soon fire one's house, as cut them down, since it is the work of so many years, I may say ages, to rear them; those ancient trees which our forefathers had all along preserved with much care."[41] In some of the romantic embellishments which he proposed in the midst of a grove, or coppice, he hints at having "little gardens, with caves, little natural cascades and grotts of water, with seats, and arbors of honeysuckles and jessamine, and, in short, with all the varieties that nature and art can furnish." He advises "little walks and paths running through such pastures as adjoin the gardens, passing through little paddocks, and corn fields, sometimes through wild coppices, and gardens, and sometimes by purling brooks, and streams; places that are set off not by nice art, but by luxury of nature." And again, "these hedge-rows mixed with primroses, violets, and such natural sweet and pleasant flowers; the walks that thus lead through them, will afford as much pleasure, nay, more so, than the largest walk in the most magnificent and elaborate fine garden."[42] He concludes his interesting Chapter of Woods and Coppices, with these lines of Tickell:—

Sweet solitude! when life's gay hours are past, Howe'er we range, in thee we fix at last: Tost thro' tempestuous seas, the voyage o'er, Pale we look back, and bless the friendly shore. Our own strict judges, our past life we scan, And ask if glory have enlarg'd the span. If bright the prospect, we the grave defy, Trust future ages, and contented die.

The following appear to have been his works:—

1. The Nobleman, Gentleman, and Gardener's Recreation; or an Introduction to Gardening, Planting, Agriculture, and the other Business and Pleasures of a Country Life. By Stephen Switzer; 1715, 8vo. Another edition in 1717, 8vo. The year afterwards, it was published with the following title:—

2. Icknographia Rustica; or, the Nobleman, Gentleman, and Gardener's Recreation: containing Directions for the general Distribution of a Country Seat into rural and extensive Gardens, Parks, Paddocks, &c.; and a General System of Agriculture; illustrated by a great variety of Copperplates, done by the first hands, from the Author's Drawings. By Stephen Switzer, Gardener: several years Servant to Mr. London, and Mr. Wise. 3 vols. 8vo. 1718.

3. A Compendious Method for Raising Italian Brocoli, Cardoon, Celeriac, and other Foreign Kitchen Vegetables; as also an Account of Lucerne, St. Foyne, Clover, and other Grass Seeds, with the Method of Burning of Clay; 8vo. 1729. Fifth edition, 8vo. 1731, 1s. 6d.[43]

4. An Introduction to a General System of Hydrostaticks and Hydraulicks, wherein the most advantageous Methods of Watering Noblemen's and Gentlemen's Seats, Buildings, Gardens, &c. are laid down. With Sixty Copper Cuts of Rural and Grotesque Designs for Reservoirs, Cataracts, Cascades, Fountains, &c.; 2 vols. 4to. 1729.[44]

5. A Dissertation on the True Cythesus of the Ancients; 8vo. 1731; 1s. 6d. A classic production. At the end, he gives a Catalogue of the Seeds, &c. sold by him at the Flower-pot, over against the Court of Common Pleas, in Westminster; or at his garden on Millbank.[45]

6. Country Gentleman's Companion, or Ancient Husbandry Restored, and Modern Husbandry Improved; 8vo. 1732, 1s. 6d.

7. Switzer was the chief conductor of Monthly Papers on Agriculture, in 2 vols. 8vo., and he himself designed the Two Frontispieces. To be sold at his Seed Shop in Westminster Hall.

8. The Practical Fruit Gardener; 8vo. Cuts, 1717. Other editions, 8vo. 1724, 1731, Revised and recommended by the Rev. Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Bradley, with their Two Letters of Recommendation.

In this later edition of 1731, are a few additions. In one of its concluding chapters, he mentions "my worthy and ingenious friend, Sir James Thornhill." This pleasing volume, after stating the excellency of fruits, observes, "if fruit trees had no other advantage attending them than to look upon them, how pleasurable would that be? Since there is no flowering shrub excels, if equals that of a peach, or apple tree in bloom. The tender enamelled blossoms, verdant foliage, with such a glorious embroidery of festoons and fruitages, wafting their odours on every blast of wind, and at last bowing down their laden branches, ready to yield their pregnant offspring into the hands of their laborious planter and owner."[46]

JOHN TAVERNER published, in 1660, a little Treatise, called The Making of Fish Ponds, Breeding Fish, and Planting Fruits. Printed several times, says Wood, in his Athenae.

RICHARD BRADLEY. The Encyclopaedia of Gardening pronounces him "a popular writer of very considerable talent, and indefatigable industry;" and speaks highly of the interesting knowledge diffused through his very numerous works, and gives a distinct list of them; so does Mr. Nicholls, in his Life of Bowyer; and Mr. Weston, in his Tracts, and Dr. Watts, in his Bib. Britt. In Mr. Bradley's "New Improvements of Planting and Gardening," he has added the whole of that scarce Tract of Dr. Beale's, the Herefordshire Orchards. One could wish to obtain his portrait, were it only from his pen so well painting the alluring charms of flowers:—"Primroses and Cowslips, may be planted near the edges of borders, and near houses, for the sake of their pretty smell. I recommend the planting some of the common sorts that grow wild in the woods, in some of the most rural places about the house; for I think nothing can be more delightful, than to see great numbers of these flowers, accompanied with Violets, growing under the hedges, avenues of trees, and wilderness works. Violets, besides their beauty, perfume the air with a most delightful odour."[47] Mr. Bradley, it appears, from the Fruit Garden Kalendar, of the Rev. Mr. Lawrence, resided at Camden House, Kensington. They each of them in their letters, in 1717, subscribe themselves, "Your most affectionate friend." Mr. Lawrence frequently styles him "the most ingenious Mr. Bradley." Dr. Pulteney says he "was the author of more than twenty separate publications, chiefly on Gardening and Agriculture; published between the years 1716 and 1730. His 'New Improvement of Planting and Gardening, both Philosophical and Practical,' 8vo. 1717, went through repeated impressions; as did his 'Gentleman's and Gardener's Kalendar,' (which was the fourth part of the preceding book) both at home, and in translations abroad. His 'Philosophical Account of the Works of Nature,' 4to. 1721, was a popular, instructive, and entertaining work, and continued in repute several years. The same may be said of his 'General Treatise of Husbandry and Gardening,' 8vo. 2 vols. 1726; and of his 'Practical Discourses concerning the Four Elements, as they relate to the Growth of Plants,' 8vo. 1727. His 'Dictionarium Botanicum,' 8vo. 1728, was, I believe, the first attempt of the kind in England." On the whole (says Dr. Pulteney) Bradley's writings, coinciding with the growing taste for gardening, the introduction of exotics, and improvements in husbandry, contributed to excite a more philosophical view of these arts, and diffuse a general and popular knowledge of them throughout the kingdom."[48] Mr. Bradley has given at the end of his curious "Philosophical Account of the Works of Nature," which is embellished with neat engravings, a chapter "Of the most curious Gardens in Europe, especially in Britain." In this chapter he justly observes, that "a gentle exercise in a fresh air, where the mind is engaged with variety of natural objects, contributes to content; and it is no new observation, that the trouble of the mind wears and destroys the constitution even of the most healthful body. All kinds of gardens contribute to health." This volume also preserves the account of Lord Ducie's noted old chesnut tree at Tortworth, supposed to be more than a thousand years old; and of an elm belonging to his lordship, of a truly gigantic growth.[49] Switzer thus speaks of Bradley:—"Mr. Bradley has not only shewn himself a skilful botanist, but a man of experience in other respects, and is every where a modest writer." Mr. Bradley died in 1732. Some writers have dwelt much upon his dissipation; let us remember, however, that

Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues We write in water.

Mr. Weston, in a communication inserted in the Gentleman's Magazine for November, 1806, says, "Although this country had a great loss by the death of Evelyn, yet he was succeeded, in twenty years after, by another of equal abilities, and indefatigable in endeavouring to improve the art of gardening, as Bradley's numerous works will testify."

TIMOTHY NOURSE, whose "Campania Foelix," 8vo. 1700, has prefixed to it, a very neat engraving by Vander Gucht, of rural life. He has chapters on Fruit Trees; on the several kinds of Apple Trees, and on Cyder and Perry. In page 262 he, with great humanity, strongly pleads to acquit Lord Chancellor Bacon from the charge against him of corruption in his high office. His Essay "Of a Country House," in this work, is curious; particularly to those who wish to see the style of building, and the decorations of a country seat at that period. Mr. Nourse also published "A Discourse upon the Nature and Faculties of Man, with some Considerations upon the Occurrences of Humane Life." Printed for Jacob Tonson, at the Judge's Head, in Chancery-lane, 1686, 8vo. His chapter on Solitude, wherein he descants on the delights of rural scenery and gardens; and his conclusion, directing every man towards the attainment of his own felicity, are worth perusing. That on Death is forcibly written; he calls it "no more than for a man to close up all the travails, pains, and misfortunes of life, with one sweet and eternal sleep; he is now at everlasting rest; the fears and misery of poverty, the anxieties of riches, the vexations of a process, do not devour him. He does not fear the calumnies of the base, nor the frowns of the great. 'Tis death which delivers the prisoner from his fetters, and the slave and captive from his chain; 'tis death which rescues the servant from the endless toils of a laborious life, the poor from oppression, and makes the beggar equal with princes. Here desperation finds a remedy, all the languors of disease, all the frustrations and tediousness of life, all the infirmities of age, all the disquiets of the passions, and all the calamities of fortune, with whatever can make a man miserable, vanish in these shades." In his very curious "Essay of a Country House," he thus moralizes:—"The variety of flowers, beautiful and fragrant, with which his gardens are adorned, opening themselves, and dying one after another, must admonish him of the fading state of earthly pleasures, of the frailty of life, and of the succeeding generations to which he must give place. The constant current of a fountain, or a rivulet, must remind of the flux of time, which never returns."

SAMUEL COLLINS, ESQ. of Archeton, Northamptonshire, author of "Paradise Retrieved; 1717, 8vo. In the Preface to the Lady's Recreation, by Charles Evelyn, Esq. he is extremely severe on this "Squire Collins," whom he accuses of ignorance and arrogance.

JOHN EVELYN, son of the author of Sylva. His genius early displayed itself; for when little more than fifteen, he wrote a Greek poem, which must have some merit, because his father has prefixed it to the second edition of his Sylva. In Mr. Nicoll's Collection of Poems, are some by him. There are two poems of his in Dryden's Miscellany. He translated Plutarch's Life of Alexander from the Greek; and the History of Two Grand Viziers, from the French. When only nineteen, he translated from the Latin, Rapin on Gardens. He died in 1698. The Quarterly Review, in its review of Mr. Bray's Memoirs of Evelyn, thus speaks of this son, and of his father:—"It was his painful lot to follow to the grave his only remaining son, in the forty-fourth year of his age, a man of much ability and reputation, worthy to have supported the honour of his name. Notwithstanding these repeated sorrows, and the weight of nearly fourscore years, Evelyn still enjoyed uninterrupted health, and unimpaired faculties; he enjoyed also the friendship of the wise and the good, and the general esteem beyond any other individual of his age."[50]

THOMAS FAIRCHILD, whose garden and vineyard at Hoxton, Mr. Bradley mentions in high terms, in numberless pages of his many works. I will merely quote from one of his works, viz. from his Philosophical Account of the Works of Nature:—"that curious garden of Mr. Thomas Fairchild, at Hoxton, where I find the greatest collection of fruits that I have yet seen, and so regularly disposed, both for order in time of ripening and good pruning of the several kinds, that I do not know any person in Europe to excel him in that particular; and in other things he is no less happy in his choice of such curiosities, as a good judgement and universal correspondence can procure." Mr. Fairchild published The City Gardener; 8vo. 1722, price 1s. He corresponded with Linnaeus. He left funds for a Botanical Sermon to be delivered annually at St. Leonard, Shoreditch, on each Whitsun Tuesday, "On the wonderful works of God in the creation, or on the certainty of the resurrection of the dead, proved by the certain changes of the animal and vegetable parts of the creation."[51] Dr. Pulteney thus speaks of Mr. Fairchild:—"My plan does not allow me to deviate so far as to cite authors on the subject of gardening, unless eminent for their acquaintance with English botany. Some have distinguished themselves in this way; and I cannot omit to mention, with applause, the names of Fairchild, Knowlton, Gordon, and Miller. The first of these made himself known to the Royal Society, by some 'New Experiments relating to the different, and sometimes contrary motion of the Sap;' which were printed in the Phil. Trans. vol. xxxiii. He also assisted in making experiments, by which the sexes of plants were illustrated, and the doctrine confirmed. Mr. Fairchild died in November, 1729."

GEORGE RICKETS, of Hoxton, was much noted about 1688 and 1689. Rea, in his Flora, says of him, "Mr. Rickets, of Hogsden, often remembered, the best and most faithful florist now about London." Rea describes, in his Flora, one hundred and ninety different kinds of tulips, and says, "All these tulips, and many others, may be had of Mr. Rickets." Worlidge thus speaks of him:—"he hath the greatest variety of the choicest apples, pears, cherries, plums, apricots, peaches, malacolones, noctorines, figgs, vines, currans, gooseberries, rasberries, mulberries, medlars, walnuts, nuts, filberts, chesnuts, &c. that any man hath, and can give the best account of their natures and excellencies." And again he says, "the whole nation is obliged to the industry of the ingenious Mr. George Rickets, gardner at Hoxton or Hogsden without Bishopsgate, near London, at the sign of the Hand there; who can furnish any planter with all or most of the fruit trees before mentioned, having been for many years a most laborious and industrious collector of the best species of all sorts of fruit from foreign parts. And hath also the richest and most complete collection of all the great variety of flower-bearing trees and shrubs in the kingdom. That there is not a day in the year, but the trees, as well as the most humble plants, do there yield ornaments for Flora; with all sorts of curious and pleasant winter-greens, that seemed to perpetuate the spring and summer, from the most humble myrtle, to the very true cedar of Libanus. Not without infinite variety of tulips, auriculaes, anemones, gillyflowers, and all other sorts of pleasant, and delicate flowers, that he may be truly said to be the master-flowrist of England; and is ready to furnish any ingenious person with any of his choicest plants."

JOHN COWEL appears to have been a noted gardener at Hoxton, about 1729. He was the author of the "Curious and Profitable Gardener."

HUGH STAFFORD, ESQ. of Pynes, in Devonshire, who published, in 1729, "A Treatise on Cyder Making, with a Catalogue of Cyder Apples of Character; to which is prefixed, a Dissertation on Cyder, and Cyder-Fruit." Another edition in 1753.

BENJAMIN WHITMILL, Sen. and Jun. Gardeners at Hoxton, published the sixth edition, in small 8vo. of their "Kalendarium Universale: or, the Gardener's Universal Calendar." The following is part of their Preface:—"The greatest persons, in all ages, have been desirous of a country retirement, where every thing appears in its native simplicity. The inhabitants are religious, the fair sex modest, and every countenance bears a picture of the heart. What, therefore, can be a more elegant amusement, to a good and great man, than to inspect the beautiful product of fields and gardens, when every month hath its pleasing variety of plants and flowers. And if innocence be our greatest happiness, where can we find it but in a country life? In fields and gardens we have pleasures unenvied, and beauties unsought for; and any discovery for the improvement of them, is highly praiseworthy. In the growth of a plant, or a tree, we view the progress of nature, and ever observe that all her works yield beauty and entertainment. To cultivate this beauty, is a task becoming the wealthy, the polite, and the learned; this is so generally understood, that there are few gentlemen of late, who are not themselves their chief gardeners. And it certainly redounds more to the honour and satisfaction of a gardener, that he is a preserver and pruner of all sorts of fruit trees, than it does to the happiness of the greatest general that he has been successful in killing mankind."

SAMUEL TROWEL, of Poplar, published, in 1739, A New Treatise of Husbandry and Gardening; 12mo. 2s. 6d. This was translated in Germain, at Leipsig, 1750, in 8vo.

REV. FRANCIS COVENTRY, who wrote an admirable paper in the World, (No. 15,) on the absurd novelties introduced in gardens. He wrote Penshurst, in Dodsley's Poems.

JAMES JUSTICE, ESQ. published the "Scot's Gardener's Director," 8vo. A new edition, entitled "The British Gardener's Director, chiefly adapted to the Climate of the Northern Counties," was published at Edinburgh, 1764, 8vo. The Encyclopaedia of Gardening calls his book "an original and truly valuable work;" and in page 87, 846, and 1104, gives some interesting particulars of this gentleman's passion for gardening.

JOHN GIBSON, M.D. author of "The Fruit Gardener," to which he has prefixed an interesting Preface on the Fruit Gardens of the Ancients. In this Preface he also relates the origin of fruit gardens, by the hermits, and monastic orders. In his Introduction, he says, that "every kind of fruit tree seems to contend in spring, who shall best entertain the possessor with the beauty of their blossoms. Mankind are always happy with the prospect of plenty; in no other scene is it exhibited with such charming variety, as in the fruit garden and orchard. Are gentlemen fond of indulging their tastes? Nature, from the plentiful productions of the above, regales them with a variety of the finest flavours and exalted relishes. To cool us in the heat of summer, she copiously unites the acid to an agreeable sweetness. Flowering shrubs and trees are often purchased by gentlemen at a high price; yet not one of them can compare in beauty with an apple tree, when beginning to expand its blossoms."[52] Speaking of the greengage, he says, "its taste is so exquisitely sweet and delicious, that nothing can exceed it." He enlivens many of his sections on the cultivation of various fruits, by frequent allusions to Theophrastus, Virgil, Pliny, and other Rei rustica scriptores. His chapter on Pears, (the various kinds of which possess "a profusion of sweets, heightened by an endless variety of delicious flavours,") is particularly profuse. So is that on Apples.

JAMES RUTTER published, in 1767, Modern Eden, or the Gardener's Universal Guide; 8vo.

JOHN DICKS published, in 1769, The New Gardener's Dictionary; in sixty numbers, small folio, 30s. Blyth.

JAMES GARTON published, in 1769, The Practical Gardener; 8vo. 3s. Dilly.

—— WILDMAN published, in 1768, a Treatise on the Culture of Pear Trees: to which is added, a Treatise on the Management of Bees; 12mo. Dublin.

ANTHONY POWEL, ESQ. Gardener to George II. published The Royal Gardener; 12mo. 1769.

—— OCKENDEN, ESQ. published, in 1770, Letters, describing the Lake of Killarney, and Rueness's Gardens; 8vo. Dublin.

THOMAS HITT published his Treatise on Fruit Trees, 8vo. 1775. A third edition in 1768. Mr. Loudon calls it "an original work, valuable for its mode of training trees." He also published, in 1760, a Treatise on Husbandry; 8vo. 3s.

ADAM TAYLOR, Gardener to J. Sutton, Esq. at New Park, near Devizes, published a Treatise on the Ananas, or Pine Apple: containing Plain and Easy Directions for Raising this most excellent Fruit without Fire, and in much higher perfection than from the Stove; to which are added, Full Directions for Raising Melons. Devizes, 8vo. 1769.

JAMES MEADER, Gardener at Sion House, and afterwards to the Empress Catharine. He published, in 1771, in 12mo. The Modern Gardener, &c. in a manner never before published; selected from the Diary MSS. of the late Mr. Hitt. Also, The Planter's Guide, or Pleasure Gardener's Companion; with plates, 1779, oblong 4to.

RICHARD WESTON, ESQ. an amateur gardener, who has given, at the end of his "Tracts on Practical Agriculture, and Gardening," 1762, 8vo. a Catalogue of English Authors on Agriculture, Gardening, &c. There is another edition in 1773, with additions. His intelligent Catalogue is brought down to the end of the year 1772. This volume of Tracts contains an infinity of ingenious and curious articles. One of the chapters contains "A Plan for Planting all the Turnpike Roads in England with Timber Trees."[53] He most zealously wishes to encourage planting. "I believe (says this candid writer) that one of the principal reasons why few persons plant, springs from a fearful conjecture that their days will have been passed, before the forest can have risen. But let not the parent harbour so selfish an idea; it should be his delight, to look forward to the advantage which his children would receive from the timber which he planted, contented if it flourished every year beneath his inspection; surely there is much more pleasure in planting of trees, than in cutting of them down. View but the place where a fine tree stands, what an emblem does it afford of present beauty and of future use; examine the spot after the noble ornament shall have been felled, and see how desolate it will appear. Perhaps there is not a better method of inducing youth to have an early inclination for planting, than for fathers, who have a landed estate, to persuade those children who are to inherit it, as soon as they come to years of discretion, to make a small nursery, and to let them have the management of it themselves; they will then see the trees yearly thriving under their hands: as an encouragement to them, they should, when the trees are at a fit growth to plant out, let them have the value of them for their pocket money. This will, in their tender years, fix so strong an idea of the value, and the great consequence of planting, as will never be eradicated afterwards; and many youths, of the age of twenty-five, having planted quick growing trees, may see the industry of their juvenile years amply rewarded at that early age, a time when most young men begin to know the value of money."[54] Mr. Pope, in one of his letters to Mr. Allen, thus discovers his own generous mind:—"I am now as busy in planting for myself as I was lately in planting for another. I am pleased to think my trees will afford shade and fruit to others, when I shall want them no more." Mr. Addison's admirable recommendation of planting, forms No. 583 of the Spectator. He therein says, "When a man considers that the putting a few twigs in the ground, is doing good to one who will make his appearance in the world about fifty years hence, or that he is perhaps making one of his own descendants easy or rich, by so inconsiderable an expence; if he finds himself averse to it, he must conclude that he has a poor and base heart. Most people are of the humour of an old fellow of a college, who, when he was pressed by the society to come into something that might redound to the good of their successors, grew very peevish. We are always doing, says he, something for posterity, but I would fain see posterity do something for us."[55] Mr. Weston also published The Universal Botanist and Nursery; 1770, 1774, 4 vols. 8vo. The Gardener and Planter's Calendar, containing the Method of Raising Timber Trees, Fruit Trees, and Quicks for Hedges; with Directions for Forming and Managing a Garden every Month in the Year; also many New Improvements in the Art of Gardening; 8vo. 1773. Mr. Weston then appears to have lived at Kensington Gore. The Gentleman's Magazine for November, 1806, says, that he died at Leicester, in 1806, aged seventy-four. He was formerly a thread hosier there. It gives an amusing and full list of his various publications, particularly of his intended "Natural History of Strawberries."

GEORGE MASON. The best edition of his "Essay on Design in Gardening," appears to have been that of 1795, in 8vo. Two Appendixes were published in 1798, which are said to have been written by Mr. U. Price. In Mr. Nichols's fourth volume of Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century, are some particulars of Mr. Mason. He published Hoccleve's Poems, with a Glossary; an Answer to Thomas Paine; the Life of Lord Howe; a Supplement to Johnson's Dictionary: in the ill-tempered preface to which, he thus strangely speaks of that Dictionary:—"this muddiness of intellect sadly besmears and defaces almost every page of the composition." This is only a small instance of his virulence against Johnson in this preface. One would have thought that Mr. Mason's sarcasms would have been softened, or even subdued, by its glowing and eloquent preface, which informs us that this great work was composed "without one act of assistance, one word of encouragement, or one smile of favour." I am sorry to say, that Mr. Mason, even in the above Essay, discovers, in three instances, his animosity to our "Dictionary writer," for so he calls Dr. Johnson. Mr. Boswell, speaking of Johnson's preface, says, "We cannot contemplate without wonder, the vigorous and splendid thoughts which so highly distinguish that performance;" and on the Dictionary he observes, that "the world contemplated with wonder, so stupendous a work, achieved by one man, while other countries had thought such undertakings fit only for whole academies." Linnaeus and Haller styled Ray's History of Plants, opus immensi laboris. One may justly apply the same words to this Dictionary. It was well for Mr. Mason that he escaped (what Miss Seward called) "the dead-doing broadside of Dr. Johnson's satire." George Mason omits no opportunity of censuring Mr. Whateley's Observations on Modern Gardening. In the above Essay, he censures him in seven different pages, and in his distinct chapter or division on this book of Mr. Whateley's, (consisting of thirteen pages) there are no less than thirty-three additional sneers, or faults, found with his opinions. He does not acknowledge in him one single solitary merit, except at page 191. In page 160, he nearly, if not quite, calls him a fool, and declares that vanity is the passion to which he is constantly sacrificing.[56] It would be an insult to any one who has read Mr. Whateley's work, to endeavour to clear him from such a virulent and ill-founded attack. Neither Dr. Johnson, with all his deep learning, nor Mr. Whateley, with all the cultivated fancy of a rich scholastic mind, would either of them have been able to comprehend, or to understand, or even to make head or tail of the first half of Mr. George Mason's poem, with which he closes the above edition of his Essay. As he has been so caustically severe against Dr. Johnson, it cannot be ungenerous if one applies to the above part of his own poem, the language of a French critic on another subject:—"Le style en est dur, et scabreux. Il semble que l'auteur a ramasse les termes les plus extraordinaires pour se rendre inintelligible." Percy, Bishop of Dromore, in vol. x. page 602, of the British Critic, has given a critique of Mr. Mason's edition of Hoccleve, in which he chastises its injustice, arrogance, and ignorance. Mr. Mason has been more liberal in warmly praising Kent, and Shenstone, in acknowledging the great taste and elegance of Mr. Thomas Warton, when the latter notices Milton's line of

Bosom'd high in tufted trees,

which picturesque remark of Mr. Warton's could not have been excelled even by the nice and critical pen of the late Sir U. Price; and when he informs us, in more than one instance, of the great Earl of Chatham's "turning his mind to the embellishment of rural nature."

THOMAS WHATELEY, on whose "Observations on Modern Gardening," the Encyclopaedia of Gardening (that most comprehensive assemblage of every thing delightful and curious in this art,) observes, "It is remarkable, that so little is known of a writer, the beauty of whose style, and the justness of whose taste, are universally acknowledged." The same work further says, "his excellent book, so frequently referred to by all succeeding writers on garden scenery, ought to be in the hands of every man of taste." And the same work still further observes, that "its style has been pronounced by Ensor, inimitable, and the descriptions with which his investigations are accompanied, have been largely copied, and amply praised by Alison, in his work On Taste. The book was soon translated into the continental languages, and is judiciously praised in the Mercure de France, Journal Encyclopedique, and Weiland's Journal. G. Mason alone dissents from the general opinion, enlarging on the very few faults or peculiarities which are to be found in the book. Wheatley, or Whately (for so little is known of this eminent man, that we have never been able to ascertain satisfactorily the orthography of his name,) was proprietor of Nonsuch Park, in Surrey; and was secretary to the Earl of Suffolk. He published only this work, soon after which he died. After his death, some remarks on Shakspeare, from his pen, were published in a small 12mo." A second edition of this elegant little work was published in 1808, by Parson, Oxford; or Rivington, St. Paul's; in which, the advertisement to the reader informs us, that "the respectable author intended to have gone through eight or ten of the principal characters of Shakspeare, but suspended his design, in order to finish his Observations on Modern Gardening, first published in the year 1770; immediately after which time, he was engaged in such an active scene of public life, as left him but little leisure to attend to the Belles Lettres; and in the year 1772 he died."[57]

His remarks on some of the characters of Shakspeare (whom, in his Observations, he calls the great master of nature) breathe in many of his pages, that fire, which he could have caught only from those of the great poet. Such was his eagerness to complete his Observations, that he for a short while "suspended his design" of examining other characters of the poet, when the bright effusions of his genius "fled up to the stars from whence they came." This elegant little work is merely a fragment, nay, even an unfinished fragment. It must, then, cause deep regret, that death should so prematurely have deprived us of that rich treasure of animated thoughts, which, no doubt, would have sprung from his further tracing the poet's deep and piercing knowledge of the human heart. One may safely apply to Mr. Whateley, what he himself applies to the poet:—"He had a genius to express all that his penetration could discover." The Journal Encyclopedique, Juilliet, 1771, when speaking of the French translation of Whateley's Observations, says, "On ne peut gueres se faire une idee de ces jardins, si l'on n'a ete a Londres. Accoutumes a la symetrie des notres, nous n'imaginons pas qu'on puisse etablir une forme irreguliere, comme une regle principale: cependant ceux qui sentent combien la noble simplicite de la nature est superieure a tous les rafinemens symetriques de l'art, donneront peuetetre la preference aux jardins Anglois. C'est l'effet que doit produire la lecture de cet ouvrage, qui quoique destine aux amateurs et aux compositeurs des jardins, offre aux gens de gout, aux artistes et sur-tout aux peintres, des observations fines et singulieres sur plusieurs effets de perspective et sur les arts en general; aux philosophes, des reflections justes sur les affections de notre ame; aux poetes, des descriptions exactes, quoique vives, des plus beaux jardins d'Angleterre dans tous les genres, qui decelent dans l'Auteur un oeil infiment exerce, une grande connoissance des beaux arts, une belle imagination et un esprit accoutume a penser."

The "bloom of an orchard, the festivity of a hay field, and the carols of harvest home," could not have met with a more cheerful and benevolent pen than Mr. Whateley's; a love of country pervades many of his pages; nor could any one have traced the placid scenery, or rich magnificence of nature, with a happier pen than when he records the walk to the cottage at Claremont, the grandeur and majesty of the scene at Blenheim, or Stowe, Persfield, Wotton in the vale of Aylesbury—the rugged, savage, and craggy points of Middleton Dale, "a chasm rent in the mountain by some convulsion of nature, beyond the memory of man, or perhaps before the island was peopled," with its many rills, springs, rivulets, and water-falls—the vast cliffs of rocks at Matlock, Bath, that "scene of romantic magnificence; from such scenes, probably, was conceived the wild imagination, in ancient mythology, of the giants piling Pelion upon Ossa; the loftiness of the rocks, and the character of the Derwent, a torrent in which force and fury prevail; the cascades in it are innumerable; before the water is recovered from one fall, it is hurried down another; and its agitation being thus increased by repeated shocks, it pushes on with restless violence to the next, where it dashes against fragments of rocks, or foams among heaps of stones which the stream has driven together"—the dusky gloom at the iron forge, "close to the cascade of the Weir, (between Ross and Monmouth) where the agitation of the current is increased by large fragments of rocks, which have been swept down by floods from the banks, or shivered by tempests from the brow; and the sullen sound, at stated intervals, from the strokes of the great hammers in the forge, deadens the roar of the water-fall"—the solitude, the loveliness, and the stillness of Dovedale, "the whole of which has the air of enchantment; grotesque as chance can cast, wild as nature can produce"—the monkish tomb-stones, and the monuments of benefactors long since forgotten, which appear above the green sward, at Tintern Abbey, with its maimed effigies, and sculpture worn with age and weather—his view to the approach to Lord Cadogan's, near Reading—his feeling and enchanting description of the Leasowes—"the wonderful efforts which art has made at Painshill to rival nature;" where the massy richness of its hanging wood "gives an air of grandeur to the whole"—the Tinian, and other lawns, and noble and magnificent views in that vast sylvan scene Hagley, where, in a spot which once delighted Mr. Pope, is inscribed an urn to his memory, "which, when shewn by a gleam of moonlight through the trees, fixes that thoughtfulness and composure to which the mind is insensibly led by the rest of this elegant scene."

His section "Of the Seasons," where he descants on the spirit of the morning, the excess of noon, or the temperance of evening," must strike every one by its felicity of style; and the reader may judge of the rich pages which this book contains, even from what he says of water:—"It accommodates itself to every situation; is the most interesting object in a landscape, and the happiest circumstance in a retired recess; captivates the eye at a distance, invites approach, and is delightful when near; it refreshes an open exposure; it animates a shade; cheers the dreariness of a waste, and enriches the most crowded view; in form, in style, and in extent, may be made equal to the greatest compositions, or adapted to the least; it may spread in a calm expanse to soothe the tranquillity of a peaceful scene; or hurrying along a devious course, add splendour to a gay, and extravagance to a romantic, situation. So various are the characters which water can assume, that there is scarcely an idea in which it may not concur, or an impression which it cannot enforce; a deep stagnated pool, dank and dark with shades which it dimly reflects, befits the seat of melancholy; even a river, if it be sunk between two dismal banks, and dull both in motion and colour, is like a hollow eye which deadens the countenance; and over a sluggard, silent stream, creeping heavily along all together, hangs a gloom, which no art can dissipate, nor even the sunshine disperse. A gently murmuring rill, clear and shallow, just gurgling, just dimpling, imposing silence, suits with solitude, and leads to meditation; a brisker current, which wantons in little eddies over a bright sandy bottom, or babbles among pebbles, spreads cheerfulness all around; a greater rapidity, and more agitation, to a certain degree are animating; but in excess, instead of wakening, they alarm the senses; the roar and the rage of a torrent, its force, its violence, its impetuosity, tend to inspire terror; that terror, which, whether as cause or effect, is so nearly allied to sublimity."[58]

DANIEL MALTHUS, ESQ. purchased, in 1759, the Rookery, near Dorking, noted for its beauties of hill, dale, wood, and water; he sold it in 1768. He translated Gerardin, De la Composition des Paysages, 12mo. 1783, to which he prefixed a preface, being, chiefly, remarks on what the gardens of the Greeks and Romans were; a view of Rosseau's tomb is prefixed. Mr. Malthus justly observes, that this Essay "is full of the most insinuating eloquence, that it is wrote by the friend of Rousseau, and from scenes which realize some of its most beautiful descriptions." He further observes, that "trifling as this enquiry will appear in itself, it may add something towards the benevolent purpose of M. d'Ernonville, which is to make men sensible of the exhaustless charms of nature, to lead them back to their simple and original tastes, to promote the variety and resources of a country life, and to unite its usefulness with its embellishment."[59]

JOHN KENNEDY published a Treatise upon Planting, Gardening, &c. 8vo. York, 1776.

N. SWINDEN, "an ingenious gardener and seedsman at Brentford-End," wrote The Beauties of Flora Displayed; 8vo. 1778.

SAMUEL FULMER wrote The Young Gardener's Best Companion for the Kitchen, and Fruit Garden; 12mo. 1781.

CHARLES BRYANT published Flora Dietetica; or, the History of Esculent Plants: 8vo. 1785. Also, a Dictionary of Ornamental Trees, Shrubs, and Plants; 8vo. Norwich, 1790.

JOSEPH HEELEY, ESQ. author of Letters on the Beauties of Hagley, Envil, and the Leasowes; with Critical Remarks on the Modern Taste in Gardening; 1777, 2 vols. 12mo.

THOMAS KYLE, or KEIL, "one of the first gardeners in Scotland, of his time," published a Treatise on the Management of the Peach and Nectarine Trees: to which is added, the Method of Raising and Forcing Vines; 8vo. Edinb. 1785. A second edition in 1787.

WILLIAM MARSHALL, ESQ. who, in his "Planting and Rural Ornament," has very properly transcribed the whole of that masterly production of Mr. Walpole's pen, his History of the Modern Taste in Gardening. He observes, that "a pen guided by so masterly a hand, must ever be productive of information and entertainment, when employed upon a subject so truly interesting. Desirous of conveying to our readers all the information which we can compress, with propriety, within the limits of our plan, we wished to have given the substance of this valuable paper; but finding it already in the language of simplicity, and being aware of the mischiefs which generally ensue in meddling with the productions of genius, we had only one alternative: either wholly to transcribe, or wholly to reject." Mr. Marshall, alluding to the above work of his, says, "Wheatley, Mason, and Nature, with some Experience, and much Observation, are the principal sources from which this part of our work was drawn; it was planned, and in part written, among the magnificent scenes of nature, in Monmouthshire, Herefordshire, and Gloucestershire, where the rich and the romantic are happily blended, in a manner unparalleled in any other part of the island." In this same work is preserved, Mr. Gray's letter on the scenery of Grasmere Water. His descriptions of many trees and shrubs are extremely interesting; and he has rendered them more so by his frequent quotations from Mr. Hanbury. He also published, in 8vo. The Rural Economy of the Southern Counties; 2 vols.—of the Midland Counties, 2 vols.—of Gloucestershire, 2 vols.—of Norfolk, 2 vols.—of Yorkshire, 2 vols.—Agriculture of the Southern Counties, 2 vols.—Minutes of Agriculture—and a Review of the Landscape, a didactic poem—and of an Essay on the Picturesque. The Encyclop. of Gardening, after relating varied information respecting him, says, that he "finally retired to a considerable property he possessed in his native county, in the Vale of Cleveland, in 1808, where he died, at an advanced age, in 1819. He was a man of little education, but of a strong and steady mind: and pursued, in the most consistent manner, from the year 1780 to his death, the plan he originally laid down; that of collecting and condensing the agricultural practices of the different counties of England, with a view to a general work on Landed Property, which he published; another on Agriculture, which he did not live to complete, and a Rural Institute, in which he was supplanted by the Board of Agriculture." His observations on the Larch, in vol. i. of his "Planting and Rural Ornament," and the zeal with which he recommends the planting of it on the infertile heathy flats of Surrey, Sussex, and Hampshire, on the bleak and barren heights of Yorkshire, Westmoreland, Cornwall, and Devon, and on the Welch and Salopean hills; and the powerful language with which he enforces its valuable qualities, merit the attention of every man of property.

WILLIAM SPEECHLY. He wrote Hints on Domestic Rural Economy; 8vo. On the Culture of the Vine and Pine Apple, with Hints on the Formation of Vineyards in England. On the Culture of the Pine Apple, and the Management of the Hot-House; 8vo. He made a tour in Holland, chiefly to observe the Dutch mode of cultivating the Pine, and the Grape. Mr. Loudon, in his Encyclop. calls him "the Moses of modern British vine dressers;" and in the Gardener's Magazine for January, 1828, has given an interesting and honourable character of him. He died at Great Milton, in 1819, aged eighty-six.[60] Marshall, in his Planting and Rural Ornament, has given us Mr. Speechley's sensible letter on the Duke of Portland's Plantations. Mr. Johnson says "he perhaps surpassed every practical gardener of his age."

PHILIP LE BROCQ, chaplain to the Duke of Gloucester, wrote,

1, A Description of Certain Methods of Planting, Training, and Managing all Kinds of Fruit Trees, Vines, &c. London, 8vo. 1786.

2, Sketch of a Plan for making the New Forest, a Real Forest. Stockdale, 8vo. 1793.

WALTER NICHOL, whom Mr. Loudon, in his Encyclopaedia, calls an author of merit, and informs us that Mr. Nichol, "in the year 1810, undertook an extensive journey through England, for the purpose of visiting the principal seats and plantations, with a view, on his return, to compose the Planter's Calendar. This work had scarcely commenced, when he was seized with an illness which carried him off suddenly, in March, 1811." His works appear to be the following:—

The Gardener's Kalendar; or, Monthly Directory of every Branch of Horticulture; 8vo.

The Planter's Kalendar; or, the Nurseryman's and Forester's Guide; 8vo.

The Villa Garden Directory; or, Monthly Index of Work to be done in Gardens, Shrubberies, &c.; 12mo.

Scotch Forcing Gardener; 8vo.

The Practical Planter.

Mr. Johnson says "his works are of the first authority, and rank as the equals of those of Abercrombie, being the result of long practice during an enlightened era of our art."

JAMES MADDOCK, of the Society of Friends, and commercial florist, at Walworth, where, about the middle of last century, he established the florist garden there, now belonging to Milliken and Curtis. He died about 1806. He published the Florist's Directory, and Complete Treatise on the Culture of Flowers; 8vo. 1792. New editions in 1810 and 1822.

THOMAS S. D. BUCKNALL, Esq. published the Orchardist; extracted from the Society's Trans. for the Encouragement of Arts, &c.; with additions. 8vo. 1797.

I had omitted the following, for which I am indebted to Mr. Johnson's History of English Gardening:—

RICHARD RICHARDSON. De cultu Hortorum, Carmen. 4to. London, 1669.

Of either of the above enumerated Authors on Gardening, I have not been able to discover any Portrait.



Of the following we have Portraits:—

LEONARD MASCALL'S portrait appears at the bottom of the curious title page to his "Government of Cattle," 4to. and is scarce. He published, in 1572, "The New Art of Planting and Grafting;" 4to. and in 12mo. Another edition in 1652.

DR. WILLIAM BULLEYN practised physic at Durham. He died in 1576. He had the misfortune to lose great part of his library by shipwreck. He was thrown into prison for debt, where he wrote a great part of his medical treatises. Bishop Tanner says he was a man of acute judgment, and true piety. He was universally esteemed as a polished scholar, and as a man of probity, benevolence, and piety. I gather the following from Dr. Pulteney:—"Of Dr. Bulleyn there is a profile with a long beard, before his "Government of Health," and a whole length of him, in wood, prefixed to the "Bulwarke of Defence;" which book is a collection of most of his works. He was an ancestor of the late Dr. Stukely, who, in 1722, was at the expence of having a small head of him engraved. He proves that we had excellent apples, pears, plums, cherries and hops, of our own growth, (before the importation of these articles into England), by London and Kentish gardeners. His zeal for the promotion of the useful arts of gardening, the general culture of the land, and the commercial interests of the kingdom, deserved the highest praise; and for the information he has left of these affairs, in his own time, posterity owe him acknowledgments." In a note to his Life, in the Biog. Dict., 7 vols. folio, 1748, is a curious account of many fruits, &c. then in our gardens. The same note is in Kippis. Richardson's portraits to Granger gives us the above profile. Mr. Johnson, at page 51 of his History of English Gardening, pointedly says, "Dr. Bulleyn deserves the veneration of every lover of gardening, for his strenuous advocating its cause, at a time when it had become a fashion to depreciate the products of our English gardens." And at page 57, pays him a further just tribute.

THOMAS HYLL, who, in 1574, published, in 4to., "The Profitable Arte of Gardeninge." Another edition in 1593, 4to. His interesting chapter on Bees is annexed to these editions."[61] There appears another edition in small 12mo. imprinted at London, in Flete-strete, neare to St. Dunstone's Church, by Thomas Marshe, 1658. There are other editions, as 1570 and 1574, 4to.; 1568, 12mo.; and 1563 and 1594, 16mo. Bromley thus mentions a portrait of him:—"Thomas Hill, wooden cut, prefixed to his Physiognomie; 12mo. 1571. Aged 42. A friend to Hyll, in a complimentary letter, prefixed to the above book, thus, in part, addresses the reader:—

With painfull pen the writer hath exprest in English plane, The needfull ayd, and mightie force, that doth in hearbes remaine, The time to set, the time to plant, the time to raise again, This man by treble diligence hath brought to light with paine.

The portraits of the Lord Chancellor BACON are well known; but in Mr. Montagu's late edition of his works, a new or juvenile portrait is added, namely, a most expressive, intelligent, and beautiful miniature of him at his age of eighteen, by Hilyard, of whom Dr. Donne said,

——a hand or eye By Hilyard drawn, is worth a history By a worse painter.

This fine edition of his works is illustrated by five portraits, taken at different periods of his lordship's life; by engravings of his residence, and monument, fac-similes, and other embellishments. In Mallett's edition are two portraits, one by Vertue, finely engraved.[62]

GERARDE'S portrait (a fine one) is prefixed to his own edition of his Herbal. Two coats of arms are at the bottom. No painter, or engraver's name, except the initials, W. R. intertwined, which I suppose are those of W. Rogers, the engraver. There is another good head of Gerarde, a small oval one, in the title page to Johnson's edition. A portrait, in oil, of Gerarde, was sold by Mr. Christie, Nov. 11, 1826. Dr. Pulteney reviews both these Herbals. Gerarde is highly extolled by Dr. Bulleyn, and indeed attained deserved eminence in his day. Dr. Pulteney relates that "the thousand novelties which were brought into England by our circumnavigators, Raleigh and Cavendish, in 1580 and 1588, excited a degree of attention, which at this day cannot, without the aid of considerable recollection, be easily conceived. Raleigh himself appears to have possessed a larger share of taste for the curious productions of nature, than was common to the seafaring adventurers of that period. And posterity will rank these voyagers among the greatest benefactors to this kingdom, in having been the means, if tradition may be credited, of introducing the most useful root that Providence has held forth for the service of man. A voyage round the globe, howsoever familiarized in ours, was, in that age, a most interesting and fruitful occasion of enquiry. The return of Raleigh, and the fame of his manifold discoveries and collections, brought over from the continent the celebrated Clusius, then in the fifty-fifth year of his age. He, who added more to the stock of botany, in his day, than all his contemporaries united, visited England for the third time, to partake, at this critical juncture, in the general gratification. At this eventful period, Gerarde was in the vigour of life, and, without doubt, felt the influence, and reaped the advantage of all the circumstances I have enumerated." One of the editions of Gerarde thus appears in a bookseller's catalogue:—"Gerarde's Herball; or Generall Historie of Plants, very much enlarged by Johnson, folio, beautiful impression of the frontispiece by Payne, fine copy, old Russia, gilt back, L3. 18s. 1633.[63]

WALTER BLYTHE'S whole-length portrait (exhibiting a pensive and penetrating aspect), is prefixed to his "English Improver Improved;" and which work Professor Martyn terms "an original and incomparable work for the time." Dr. Beale calls him "honest Captain Blithe."

GERVASE MARKHAM'S portrait is prefixed to his "Perfect Horseman;" 8vo. It is re-engraved for Richardson's portraits to Granger. Markham appears to have been a good soldier, as well as a good scholar. He published in 4to. 1623, "The Country House-Wife's Garden." He wrote Herod and Antipater, a tragedy. Langbaine speaks very much in his praise, and seemingly not without reason. Dr. Dibden, in his "Library Companion," says, "on many accounts does Markham seem entitled to more notice and commendation." He translated Leibault's Maison Rustique, in 1616, in 4to. or small folio, and augmented it with many additions from Oliver de Serres, and others. Weston, in his Catalogue, says he re-printed the editions in 1614 and 1631, of Barnaby Gooche's Husbandry. He published many books on husbandry, on fowling, on angling, on military discipline, on horsemanship. Many of their titles are enumerated in Langbaine, and in Weston, and they appear all to be more fully stated in Watts's Bibl. Brit. Much information, as to Markham, may be seen in vol. ii. of the Censura Literaria; and in Sir E. Brydges's edition of Phillips's Theatrum Poetarum Anglicanorum, appears, perhaps, the best list of his works, with a brief memoir.[64]

PARKINSON'S excellent portrait, by Marshall, appears in the title page to his Theatrum Botanicum, in 1640. Some one may now possess the original. In his Paradisus, 1635, there is a very scurvy engraving of his healthy, and hearty-looking old countenance. In this miserable cut, which is on wood, the graver, Christopher Switzer, does not seem to have had a strife "with nature to outdo the life." Marshall's head is re-engraved for Richardson's Illustrations to Granger. Parkinson rose to such a degree of reputation, as to be appointed Apothecary to King James. He was appointed herbalist to Charles I. Dr. Pulteney speaks highly of both the above works, particularly of the Theatrum. All the memorials we have of the private history of this most industrious and zealous herbalist, are very scanty. He died about 1645, aged about 78. The curious contents of his Paradisus are diffusively narrated in Johnson's English Gardening. When perusing the pages of either of the above, one may exclaim,

——"not a tree, A plant, a leaf, a blossom, but contains A folio volume. We may read, and read, And read again; and still find something new, Something to please, and something to instruct, E'en in the humble weed."



The above is scarcely better than Switzer's. There appears no faithful portrait of Parkinson, but Marshall's, who had the felicity to draw other portraits besides his.

Hollar's striking portraits of the TRADESCANTS, are well known. On their tomb, at Lambeth, the following lines form part of the inscription:—

These famous Antiquarians, that had been Both Gardeners to the rose and lily Queen, Transplanted now themselves, sleep here; and when Angels shall with their trumpets waken men, And fire shall purge the world, these hence shall rise, And change this Garden for a Paradise.

In the Ashmolean Museum, is a portrait of the SON, in his garden, with a spade in his hand. In Mr. Nichols's "Illustrations to Granger," consisting of seventy-five portraits, appear those of the Tradescants, father and son. Smith also engraved John Tradescant, with his son, and their monument, 1793. Mr. Weston, in his Catalogue, fully describes the Museum Tradescantium. Dr. Pulteney observes, that "in a work devoted to the commemoration of Botanists, their name stands too high not to demand an honourable notice; since they contributed, at an early period, by their garden and museum, to raise a curiosity that was eminently useful to the progress and improvement of natural history in general. The reader may see a curious account of the remains of this garden, drawn up in the year 1749, by the late Sir W. Watson, and printed in vol. xlvi. of the Phil. Trans. The son died in 1662. His widow erected a curious monument, in memory of the family, in Lambeth church-yard, of which a large account, and engravings from a drawing of it in the Pepysian Library, at Cambridge, are given by the late learned Dr. Ducarel, in vol. lxiii. of the Phil. Trans."

SIR HENRY WOTTON, Provost of Eaton. His portrait is given in Isaac Walton's Lives of Wotton, and others. It, of course, accompanies Zouch's, and the other well-known editions of Isaac Walton's Lives. In Evans's Illustrations to Granger, is Sir H. Wotton, from the picture in the Bodleian Library, engraved by Stow. In Sir Henry's Reflections on Ancient and Modern Learning, is his chapter "On Ancient and Modern Agriculture and Gardening." Cowley wrote an elegy on him, which thus commences:—

What shall we say since silent now is he, Who when he spoke, all things would silent be; Who had so many languages in store, That only Fame can speak of him with more.

Isaac Walton published the "Reliquiae Wottonianae, or, Lives, Letters, Poems, &c. by Sir Henry Wotton," 12mo. 1654, with portraits of Wotton, Charles I., Earl of Essex, and Buckingham. Sir E. Brydges printed at his private press, at Lee Priory, Sir Henry's Characters of the Earl of Essex and Buckingham. In the Reliquiae, among many curious and interesting articles, is preserved Sir Henry's delicately complimentary letter to Milton on receiving from him Comus. Sir Henry, when a resident at Venice, (where he was sent on three several embassies by James) purchased for that munificent encourager of painting, the Duke of Buckingham, several valuable pictures, which were added to the Duke's magnificent collection. Isaac Walton's Life of Wotton thus concludes:—"Dying worthy of his name and family, worthy of the love of so many princes, and persons of eminent wisdom and learning, worthy of the trust committed unto him for the service of his prince and country." And, in his Angler, he thus sweetly paints the warm attachment he had for Wotton:—"a man with whom I have often fished and conversed, whose learning, wit, and cheerfulness, made his company to be esteemed one of the delights of mankind. Peace and patience, and a calm content, did cohabit in the cheerful heart of Sir Henry Wotton."

SIR THOMAS BROWNE. Mr. Dallaway, in his Anecdotes of the Arts, mentions the following portrait of Sir Thomas:—"At Devonshire-house is a family groupe, by Dobson, of Sir Thomas Browne. He is smiling with the utmost complacency upon his children, who surround him." His portrait is also prefixed to his works. The Biograph. Dict., folio, 1748, says, "his picture, in the College of Physicians, shews him to have been remarkably handsome, and to have possessed, in a singular degree, the blessings of a grave, yet cheerful and inviting, countenance." The same work farther gives him a most amiable character. Mr. Ray, in his Ornithology, does not omit paying a just compliment to his assistant and friend, "the deservedly famous Sir Thomas Browne." Evelyn, in 1671, mentions Sir Thomas Browne's garden at Norwich, as containing a paradise of varieties, and the gardens of all the inhabitants as full of excellent flowers. Switzer says, "The noble elegance of his style has since induced many to read his works, (of which, that of Cyrus's gardens is some of the brightest,) though they have had little inclination to the practice of gardening itself. There remains nothing that I have heard of his putting gardening actually into practice himself; but some of his last works being observations on several scarce plants mentioned in Scripture; and of Garlands and Coronary garden plants and flowers, 'tis reasonable to suppose he did; and the love he had so early and late discovered toward it, was completed in the delightful practice thereof." He further says, " his elaborate and ingenious pen has not a little added to the nobleness of our subject."[65] His works were published in 1 vol. folio, 1686, with his portrait, engraved by White. His portrait appears also to his "Certain Miscellany Tracts," 8vo. A list of his numerous works may be seen in the Biogr. Dictionaires, or in Watts's Bibl. Britt. To his "Christian Morals," Dr. Johnson has prefixed his Life. It is so masterly written, that it is impossible to give even an abstract. Dr. Kippis has, however, in part, transcribed it. He was chosen Honorary Fellow of the College of Physicians, as a man virtute et literas ornatissimus. In 1671, he received the honour of Knighthood from Charles II., a prince, (says Dr. Johnson) "who, with many frailties and vices, had yet skill to discover excellence, and virtue to reward it with such honorary distinctions, at least, as cost him nothing, yet, conferred by a king so judicious and so much beloved, had the power of giving merit new lustre and greater popularity." Thus he lived in high reputation, till, in his seventy-sixth year, an illness, which tortured him a week, put an end to his life, at Norwich, on his birth-day, October 19, 1682. "Some of his last words (we are told by Whitefoot) were expressions of submission to the will of God, and fearlessness of death." Dr. Johnson observes, "It is not on the praises of others, but on his own writings, that he is to depend for the esteem of posterity; of which he will not be easily deprived, while learning shall have any reverence among men: for there is no science in which he does not discover some skill; and scarce any kind of knowledge, profane or sacred, abstruse or elegant, which he does not appear to have cultivated with success. His exuberance of knowledge, and plenitude of ideas, sometimes obstruct the tendency of his reasoning, and the clearness of his decisions. On whatever subject he employed his mind, there started up immediately so many images before him, that he lost one by grasping another. His memory supplied him with so many illustrations, parallel or dependent notions, that he was always starting into collateral considerations. But the spirit and vigour of his pursuit always gives delight; and the reader follows him, without reluctance, through his mazes, of themselves flowery and pleasing, and ending at the point originally in view. There remains yet an objection against the writings of Browne, more formidable than the animadversions of criticism. There are passages from which some have taken occasion to rank him among deists, and others among atheists. It would be difficult to guess how any such conclusion should be formed, had not experience shewn that there are two sorts of men willing to enlarge the catalogue of infidels. When Browne has been numbered among the contemners of religion by the fury of its friends, or the artifices of its enemies, it is no difficult task to replace him among the most zealous professors of christianity. He may perhaps, in the ardour of his imagination, have hazarded an expression, which a mind intent upon faults may interpret into heresy, if considered apart from the rest of his discourse; but a phrase is not to be opposed to volumes. There is scarcely a writer to be found, whose profession was not divinity, that has so frequently testified his belief of the sacred writings, has appealed to them with such unlimited submission, or mentioned them with such unvaried reverence."

JOHN EVELYN, ESQ. His portrait by Nanteuil, and that by Kneller, holding his Sylva in his hand, are well engraved in Mr. Bray's Memoirs. The following remark is from the Quarterly Review, in its review of the same work, in 1818:—"At four years old he was taught to read by the parish school-master, whose school was over the church porch; and 'at six his picture was drawn by one Chanteral, no ill painter.' If this portrait, as is not unlikely, be preserved in the family, it should have been engraved for the present work; it would have been very interesting to compare the countenance of such a person, in childhood, in the flower of years, when his head was engraved by Nanteuil, and in ripe old age, when he sat to Sir G. Kneller." In Aubrey's Surrey, vol. iv. are many interesting particulars of Mr. Evelyn, and his family, and he gives a list of his works. He says "his picture was thrice drawn in oil; first, in 1641, by one Vanderborcht, brought out of Germany at the same time with Hollar, the graver, by the Earl of Arundel; a second time in 1648, by Walker; and the third time by Sir G. Kneller, for his friend Mr. Pepys, of the Admiralty, of which that at the Royal Society is a copy. There is a print of him by Nanteuil, who likewise drew him more than once in black and white, with Indian ink; and a picture, in crayon, by Luterel." Mr. Evelyn lived in the busy times of Charles I., Cromwell, Charles II., James II., and William. He had much personal intercourse with Charles II. and James II., and was in the habits of great intimacy with many of the ministers of those two monarchs, and of the eminent men of those days. Foreigners, distinguished for learning or arts, who came to England, did not leave it without visiting him. His manners we may presume to have been of the most agreeable kind, for his company was sought by the greatest men, not merely by inviting him to their own tables, but by their repeated visits to him at his own house. Mr. Evelyn lived to the great age of eighty-six, and wished these words to be inscribed on his tomb:—"all is vanity that is not honest, and there is no solid wisdom but in real piety."[66] Cowley, in a letter to him, says, "I know nobody that possesses more private happiness than you do in your garden; and yet no man who makes his happiness more publick, by a free communication of the art and knowledge of it to others. All that I myself am able yet to do, is only to recommend to mankind the search of that felicity, which you instruct them how to find and to enjoy." The Quarterly Review thus speaks of his Sylva:—"The Sylva remained a beautiful and enduring memorial of his amusements, his occupations, and his studies, his private happiness, and his public virtues. The greater part of the woods, which were raised in consequence of Evelyn's writings, have been cut down; the oaks have borne the British flag to seas and countries which were undiscovered when they were planted, and generation after generation has been coffined in the elms. The trees of his age, which may yet be standing, are verging fast toward their decay and dissolution: but his name is fresh in the land, and his reputation, like the trees of an Indian Paradise, exists, and will continue to exist in full strength and beauty, uninjured by the course of time." Mr. Loudon, in his Encycl. of Gardening, thus speaks of him:—"Evelyn is universally allowed to have been one of the warmest friends to improvements in gardening and planting, that has ever appeared. He is eulogized by Wotton, in his Reflections on Ancient and Modern Learning, as having done more than all former ages." Switzer calls him "that good esquire, the king of gardeners." His life (says Mr. Walpole) "was a course of inquiry, study, curiosity, instruction, and benevolence. He knew that retirement, in his own hands, was industry and benefit to mankind; in those of others, laziness and inutility."

There appears the following more modern publications respecting Mr. Evelyn:—

1. Sylva, with Notes by Hunter; in 4to, and 8vo.

2. Memoirs and Correspondence of Mr. Evelyn. Edited by Mr. Bray. 5 vols. 8vo. Portraits, and other plates. L3. 10s. Another edition, in 2 vols., 4to.

3. Evelyn's Miscellaneous Writings, collected and edited, with Notes, by Mr. Upcott. Forming a Supplement to the Evelyn Memoirs. 1 vol. 4to. with plates, 1825. L3. 10s.

The Encycl. of Gardening enumerates the whole of Mr. Evelyn's works. So does Dr. Watts in his Bibl. Britt.; and Mr. Johnson in his History of English Gardening.[67]

ABRAHAM COWLEY. The portraits of him are well known. That in Bishop Hurd's edition is very neat. This same portrait is also well engraved for Ankars's edition of Cowley; and also in that by Aikens, in 8vo. Dean Sprat has prefixed to his edition of Cowley, his portrait, engraved by Faithorne, and, in his preface, pays a warm and just tribute to his memory. When his death was announced to Charles II., he declared, that Mr. Cowley had not left a better man behind him in England. Cowley addresses his chapter Of Gardens (which strongly paints his delight in them) to Mr. Evelyn. He wrote this epitaph for himself:—

From life's superfluous cares enlarg'd, His debt of human toil discharg'd, Here COWLEY lies, beneath this shed, To ev'ry worldly interest dead: With decent poverty content; His hours of ease not idly spent; To fortune's goods a foe profess'd, And, hating wealth, by all caress'd. 'Tis sure he's dead; for, lo! how small A spot of earth is now his all! O! wish that earth may lightly lay, And ev'ry care be far away! Bring flow'rs, the short-liv'd roses bring, To life deceased fit offering! And sweets around the poet strow, Whilst yet with life his ashes glow.

JOHN ROSE, head gardener to the Lord Essex, at Essex-house, in the Strand. He sent him to study the celebrated beauties in the gardens of Versailles. He became afterwards the chief gardener to Charles II., at the royal gardens in St. James's Park. His portrait may be seen at Kensington, in an oil painting, where he is presenting a pine to his Majesty, whilst on a visit to the Duchess of Cleveland, at Downey Court, Buckinghamshire. It has lately been engraved in mezzotinto. He was the author of "The English Vineyard Vindicated, and the Way of Making Wine in France;" first printed with Evelyn's French Gardener, in 1672, 12mo. Other editions in 1675, 1676, and 1690, in 8vo. The preface is by Evelyn, as well as The Art of Making Wine. Rose brought to great perfection dwarf fruit trees, in the gardens at Hampton Court, Carlton, and Marlborough House. Switzer thus speaks of him:—"He was esteemed to be the best of his profession in those days, and ought to be remembered for the encouragement he gave to a servant of his, that has since made the greatest figure that ever yet any gardener did, I mean Mr. London. Mr. Rose may be well ranked amongst the greatest virtuosos of that time, (now dead) who were all well pleased to accept of his company while living."

CHARLES COTTON. He published "The Planter's Manual," 12mo. 1675. There is prefixed to it a rural frontispiece, by Van Houe. Mr. Johnson properly calls him "one of the Scriptores minores of horticulture." His "devoted attachment to Izaak Walton, forms the best evidence we have of his naturally amiable disposition." His portrait is finely engraved in Mr. Major's extensively illustrated and most attractive editions of the Angler; a delightful book, exhibiting a "matchless picture of rural nature." Mr. Cotton's portrait is also well engraved in Zouch's Life of Walton; and in the many other curious and embellished editions of Walton and Cotton's Angler. He translated with such truth and spirit, the celebrated Essays of Montaigne, that he received from that superior critic, the Marquis of Halifax, a most elegant encomium. Sir John Hawkins calls it "one of the most valuable books in the English language." A complete list of Mr. Cotton's works appears in Watts's Bibl. Britt. When describing, in his Wonders of the Peake, the Queen of Scot's Pillar, he thus breaks out:—

Illustrious Mary, it had happy been, Had you then found a cave like this to skreen Your sacred person from those frontier spies, That of a sovereign princess durst make prize, When Neptune too officiously bore Your cred'lous innocence to this faithless shore. Oh, England! once who hadst the only fame Of being kind to all who hither came For refuge and protection, how couldst thou So strangely alter thy good nature now, Where there was so much excellence to move, Not only thy compassion, but thy love? 'Twas strange on earth, save Caledonian ground, So impudent a villain could be found, Such majesty and sweetness to accuse; Or, after that, a judge would not refuse Her sentence to pronounce; or that being done, Even amongst bloody'st hangmen, to find one Durst, though her face was veil'd, and neck laid down, Strike off the fairest head e'er wore a crown. And what state policy there might be here, Which does with right too often interfere, I 'm not to judge: yet thus far dare be bold, A fouler act the sun did ne'er behold.[68]

Plott, in his Staffordshire, calls Mr. Cotton "his worthy, learned, and most ingenious friend." Sir John Hawkins thus speaks of him:—"He was both a wit and a scholar; of an open, cheerful, and hospitable temper; endowed with fine talents for conversation, and the courtesy and affability of a gentleman." He farther thus speaks of one of his poems:—"It is not for their courtly and elegant turn, that the verses of Charles Cotton ought to be praised; there is such a delightful flow of feeling and sentiment, so much of the best part of our nature mixed up in them, and so much fancy displayed, that one of our most distinguished living poets has adduced several passages of his Ode upon Winter, for a general illustration of the characteristics of fancy." He must have possessed many endearing qualities, for the benevolent and pious Walton thus concludes a letter to his "most honoured friend, Charles Cotton, Esq.:"—"though I be more than a hundred miles from you, and in the eighty-third year of my age, yet I will forget both, and next month begin a pilgrimage to beg your pardon: for I would die in your favour, and till then will live, Sir, your most affectionate father and friend, Isaac Walton." One cannot wonder at the good old man wishing to visit the courteous and well-bred Mr. Cotton, and to enjoy the intercourse of hospitable urbanity, near the pastoral streams of the Dove, when he had received such an invitation as the following, addressed to his "dear and most worthy friend, Mr. Isaac Walton:"—

Whilst in this cold and blustering clime, Where bleak winds howl and tempests roar, We pass away the roughest time Has been of many years before;

Whilst from the most tempestuous nooks The chillest blasts our peace invade, And by great rains our smallest brooks Are almost navigable made;

Whilst all the ills are so improved, Of this dead quarter of the year, That even you, so much beloved, We would not now wish with us here;

In this estate, I say, it is Some comfort to us to suppose, That, in a better clime than this, You, our dear friend, have more repose;

And some delight to me the while, Though nature now does weep in rain, To think that I have seen her smile, And haply may I do again.

If the all-ruling Power please We live to see another May, We'll recompense an age of these Foul days in one fine fishing day.

We then shall have a day or two, Perhaps a week, wherein to try What the best master's hand can do With the most deadly killing fly:

A day with not too bright a beam, A warm, but not a scorching sun, A southern gale to curl the stream, and, master, half our work is done.

There, whilst behind some bush we wait The scaly people to betray,— We'll prove it just, with treacherous bait To make the preying Trout our prey.

And think ourselves, in such an hour, Happier than those, though not so high, Who, like Leviathans, devour Of meaner men the smaller fry.

This, my best friend, at my poor home Shall be our pastime and our theme; But then—should you not deign to come, You make all this a flattering dream.

In wandering over the lovely scenes, the pleasant brooks, the flower-bespangled meadows, which the moral pages of Isaac Walton so unaffectedly delineate, it is impossible not to recur to the name of the late author of Salmonia, and to reflect, that on these pages he oft unbended his vigorous mind from his severe and brilliant discoveries. We can now only lament the (almost) premature death of this high-ranked philosopher, this great benefactor to the arts, and deep promoter of science, whose mortal remains were consigned to his unostentatious tomb, at Geneva, in one of the finest evenings of summer, followed by the eloquent and amiable historian, De Sismondi, and by other learned and illustrious men. One may apply to his last moments at Geneva, (where he had arrived only one day before) these lines of his own favourite Herbert:—

Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright, The bridal of the earth and sky, Sweet dews shall weep thy fall to-night, For thou must die![69]

SAMUEL GILBERT'S portrait is prefixed to his "Florist's Vade Mecum;" 12mo. In his "Gardener's Almanack," is a particular description of the roses cultivated in the English gardens at that period. He was the author of "Fons Sanitatis, or the Healing Spring at Willowbridge Wells." He was son-in-law to John Rea, the author of Flora, and who planned the gardens at Gerard's Bromley. Willowbridge Wells are at a little distance from where these once superb gardens were.

JACOB BOBART, the elder, is an admirable portrait, by D. Loggan, taken at his age of eighty-one, and engraved by Burghers. Granger says it is extremely scarce. Beneath the head, which is dated 1675, is this distich:—

Thou Germane prince of plants, each year to thee, Thousands of subjects grant a subsidy.

It is a venerable countenance, of deep thought. Richardson re-engraved this among his Illustrations to Granger. Granger mentions also a whole-length of Bobart in a garden, dog, goat, &c. 4to. The Encycl. of Gardening says, "Bobart's descendants are still in Oxford, and known as coach proprietors." Do none of them possess the original painting? The munificence of the Earl of Danby placed Bobart in the physic garden at Oxford, in 1632, as supervisor; and this garden flourished many years under his care, and that of his son Jacob, whose zeal and diligence Dr. Pulteney records. The elder Bobart was the author of the Hortus Oxoniensis, 1648. Wood, in his Athenae, informs us, that "Jacob Bobart died in his garden-house, in February, 1679, whereupon his body was buried in the church of St. Peter, Oxon." He left two sons, Jacob and Tillemant. Tillemant became a master coachman between Oxford and London, but having had the misfortune to break his leg, became one of the beadles of the university. In the preface to Mr. Nicholls's late curious work on autographs, among other albums, in the British Museum, it mentions that of David Krein, in which is the autograph of Jacob Bobart, with these verses;—

——"virtus sua gloria.

Think that day lost whose descending sun Views from thy hand no noble action done.

Yr success and happyness is sincerely wished by Ja. Bobart, Oxford."

It appears from Ray's History of Plants, that Jacob Bobart, the son, was a frequent communicator to him of scarce plants. It was this son who published the second volume of Morrison's Oxford History of Plants, who wrote its excellent preface, and who engaged Burghers to engrave many of the new plants; which engravings are highly commended by Pulteney. Mr. Johnson, in page 148 of his History of Gardening, thus pays Bobart a high compliment:—"a phalanx of botanists were then contemporaries, which previous ages never equalled, nor succeeding ones surpassed. Ray, Tournefort, Plumier, Plukenet, Commelin, Rivinus, Bobart, Petiver, Sherard, Boccone, Linnaeus, may be said to have lived in the same age."

JAMES GARDINER. His portrait is engraved by Vertue, from after Verelst, and prefixed to his translation of Rapin on Gardens, 8vo. second edition; no date. A third edition, 8vo. 1728. I believe he also wrote "On the Beatitudes;" 2 vols. 8vo. Switzer says, that this "incomparable Latin poem was translated by an ingenious and worthily dignified clergyman, and a great lover of gardening, Mr. Gardiner, Sub-Dean of Lincoln." He became afterwards (I believe) Bishop of Lincoln; and a Latin epitaph on this bishop is in Peck's Desid. Curiosa. There is a print of "Jacobus Gardiner, Episc. Lincoln," engraved by George White, from after Dahl.

SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. The portraits of this worthy man are numerous. Vanderbane's engraving, from Sir Peter Lely's, is particularly fine. Vertue's engravings, from Sir Peter, in the folio editions of 1720 and 1740, are also fine. This same portrait is neatly engraved in the late Mr. Nichol's Collection of Poems. Houbraken has also engraved the same for Birch's Lives. Sir William Temple, after spending twenty years in negociations with foreign powers, retired in 1680 from public life, and employed his time in literary pursuits. He was ambassador for many years at the court of Holland, and there acquired his knowledge and taste in gardening. He had a garden at Sheen, and afterwards, another at Moor Park, where he died in 1700; and though his body was buried in Westminster Abbey, his heart was enclosed in a silver urn under a sun-dial in the latter garden. His Essay "Upon the Gardens of Epicurus, or of Gardening in the year 1685," is printed in all the editions of his works.[70] These works are published in 2 vols. folio, and 4 vols. 8vo. Switzer, in his History of Gardening, first published in 1715, says, "That he was a great lover of gardening, appears by his own writings, and several kinds of fruit brought over by him out of Holland, &c. as well as by the testimony of his neighbours yet living, the greatest consolation of his life being, in the lucid intervals he had from public employs, in his beloved gardens at Sheen." And, in his Fruit Gardener he says, that "the magnificence and generosity of this great lover of planting, distributed vast numbers of the finest grapes among the nurserymen about London, as well as amongst the nobility and gentry." Lord Mountmorris thus speaks of him:—"The retirement of this great man has bequeathed the most invaluable legacy to posterity. Of the taste and elegance of his writings too much can never be said, illuminated as they are by that probity and candour which pervade them, and those charms which render truth irresistible. Though other writers may be more the objects of imitation to the scholar, yet his style is certainly the best adapted to the politician and the man of fashion; nor would such an opinion be given, were it not for an anecdote of Swift, which I had from the late Mr. Sheridan, who told me the dean always recommended him as the best model, and had repeatedly said that the style of Sir William Temple was the easiest, the most liberal, and the most brilliant in our language. In a word, when we consider his probity, his disinterestedness, his contempt of wealth, the genuine beauty of his style, which was as brilliant, as harmonious, and as pure as his life and manners; when we reflect upon the treasures which he has bequeathed by his example and by his works to his country, which no man ever loved better, or esteemed more; we cannot avoid considering Sir William Temple as one of the greatest characters which has appeared upon the political stage; and he may be justly classed with the greatest names of antiquity, and with the most brilliant characters which adorn and illustrate the Grecian or Roman annals." Mr. Mason, in his English Garden, contrasts Sir William's idea of "a perfect garden," with those of Lord Bacon, and Milton; but he candidly says,

——and yet full oft O'er Temple's studious hour did truth preside, Sprinkling her lustre o'er his classic page; There hear his candour own, in fashion's spite, In spite of courtly dulness hear it own, There is a grace in wild variety Surpassing rule and order. Temple, yes, There is a grace; and let eternal wreaths Adorn their brows who fixt its empire here."

He then, in glowing lines, pays an animated tribute to Addison, Pope, and Kent. Hume records that "he was full of honour and humanity." Sir William thus concludes one of his philosophic essays:—"When this is done, human life is, at the greatest and the best, but like a froward child, that must be played with and humoured a little to keep it quiet till it falls asleep, and then the care is over." His garden was one of his last delights. He knew what kind of life was best fitted to make a man's last days happy. Mr. Walpole, though he censures Sir William's warm panegyric on the garden at Moor Park, yet scruples not doing him full justice, in styling him an excellent man, and an admired writer, whose style, as to his garden, is animated with the colouring and glow of poetry. Mr. Cobbett, in his English Gardener, thus deplores the fate of Moor Park:—"This really wise and excellent man, Sir W. Temple, who, while he possessed the soundest judgment, and was employed in some of the greatest concerns of his country, so ardently, yet so rationally and unaffectedly, praises the pursuits of gardening, in which he delighted from his youth to his old age; and of his taste in which, he gave such delightful proofs in those gardens and grounds at Moor Park, beneath the turf of one spot of which, he caused by his will, his heart to be buried, and which spot, together with all the rest of the beautiful arrangement, has been torn about and disfigured within the last fifty years, by a succession of wine merchants, spirit merchants, West Indians, and God knows what besides." And, in his Woodlands, he says, "I have stood for hours, when a little boy, looking at this object (the canal and borders of beautiful flowers at Moor Park); I have travelled far since, and have seen a great deal; but I have never seen any thing of the gardening kind so beautiful in the whole course of my life." Mr. Johnson, in his History of English Gardening, after noticing many general particulars of Sir William, devotes an interesting page to Sir William's attachment to gardening; and every line in this generous page, betrays his own delight in this art. He thus concludes this page:—"Nothing can demonstrate more fully the delight he took in gardening, than the direction left in his will, that his heart should be buried beneath the sun-dial of his garden, at Moor Park, near Farnham, in Surrey. In accordance with which, it was deposited there in a silver box, affording another instance of the ruling passion unweakened even in death. Nor was this an unphilosophical clinging to that which it was impossible to retain; but rather that grateful feeling, common to our nature, of desiring finally to repose where in life we have been happy. In his garden, Sir William Temple had spent the calmest hours of a well-spent life, and where his heart had been most peaceful, he wished its dust to mingle, and thus, at the same time, offering his last testimony to the sentiment, that in a garden

Hic secura quies, et nescia fallere vita."

JOHN LOCKE wrote "Observations upon the Growth of Vines and Olives; the Production of Silk, the Preservation of Fruits. Written at the request of the Earl of Shaftesbury; now first printed from the original manuscript in the possession of the present Earl of Shaftesbury, 1s. 6d. Sandby, 1766." Among the many portraits we have of this learned man, the public are indebted to Lord King, for having prefixed to his Life of Mr. Locke, a very fine portrait of him, from after Greenhill. This great and good man possessed, in the highest degree, those virtues that have given him a claim to the highest rank in the admiration of posterity. In Rutter's delineations of a part of Somersetshire, he gives a neat wood-cut of the cottage at Wrington, wherein Locke was born, and he informs us, that in the garden belonging to Mrs. Hannah More, near that village, she has placed an urn commemorative of Locke, which was a gift to her from the justly celebrated Mrs. Montague. He was drawn also by Kneller. Bromley gives a list of many of his engraved portraits. Houbraken engraved one for Birch's Lives. Vertue gave two engravings from Kneller.