knowledge of individuals, and left a detached mass, which Ray, Tournefort, Linnæus, &c. afterwards simplified and arranged.*

The advantages derived therefore by the establishment of botanic gardens were of the first importance. No plant, unless its native climate, soil, and habits are attended to, can be cultivated with success. Here, therefore, where plants could be associated in cultivation, the scientific man could pursue his favourite study under circumstances not to be otherwise attained; ascertaining their relative characteristics, comparing doubtful species, witnessing their state at different periods, the soils and atmosphere that best suited them, &c.

This improvement in knowledge was not confined to botany alone, the whole circle of the arts and sciences partook of it; by emancipating the human mind from servile thraldrom, the reformation taught man, instead of blindly bowing to that which custom and antiquity had consecrated, to have a self-dependance, to search all things, and retain only that which was good; it gave an impetus to improvement, and stirred up a spirit of inquiry which no tyranny could check, and like a stream which had been pent up within narrow bounds, when once the floodgates were open it rolled rapidly onwards to the ocean of knowledge. Then arose such men as Bacon, Peiresc and Evelyn; and while the path which men of science should tread was traced by the first, the last lent their talents and wealth to assist them whilst engaged in the pursuit. Bacon taught that experiment and observation alone was the foundation of true knowledge; that facts and not fanciful or metaphysical theories were the materials with which he could hope to raise any solid superstructure, that man, as the servant and interpeter of nature, could discover truth only as he observed or imitated her operations. Peiresc was a man of letters, whose purse and advice were open to all the scientific men of the day; possessing a good library and a garden of choice plants, he delighted to spread them over all Europe, a liberality of feeling which

did honour to the individual, and which we could wish to see carried out into operation more extensively even at the present day. Evelyn trod closely in the same steps. He possessed a beautiful spot at Saye's Court, in Kent, and was one of the first fellows, and of the council, of the Royal Society, on its first formation in 1662. This 'age has been truly called the "golden," if we consider the list of bright names which in all departments of science and literature, adorned it, and especially in botany and chemistry; horticulture and floriculture began rapidly to rise from the empiricism in which it had been involved. A spirit of research became prevalent, foreign voyages, for profit as well as fame, were undertaken by Raleigh and Cavendish and Raymond and Lancaster, and Spanish America and the East Indies began to contribute the gems of their vegetable productions to the collections of Europe; rare plants of every description were sought after, and some, such as the potato, tobacco, and tea became, from mere novelties, to be regarded either as the necessaries or the luxuries of life.t

Much additional information had been obtained, and new varieties of flowers introduced during the reign of Elizabeth, who was herself passionately fond of flowers-from the settlement of the Flemish worsted manufacturers at Norwich in 1567, during the persecutions in their country under Philip II. and the Duke of Alva-they brought with them gilliflowers, Provence roses, and carnations; tulips, and the damask and musk roses, would appear from Gerarde to have been known for some years, as he says, in 1596 a collector of tulips had been so for twenty years, and had an immense variety. The Flemings, it would also appear, established "shows," as there is mention of a "florists' feast" at Norwich so early as 1637, when a play termed "Rhodon and Iris" was performed.‡

The fondness for flowers began now to spread itself far and wide-it pervaded every rank, and the nobility of every county and the artisans of every ma

+ Ibid.

nufacturing cown in the kingdom are mentioned as delighting in their cultiva tion.

In Holland, where this passion began, it was carried to the greatest excess, and degenerated at last into a series of gambling transactions, which continued until the middle of the last century, when two hundred pounds were given for a hyacinth root; and the Semper Augustus tulip fetched a price almost exceeding belief. The most distinguished patron of gardening in this reign was the Lord Keeper, Sir Nicholas Bacon, whose chief care and attention was bestowed on the gardens attached to his beautiful mansion at Gormanbury.

The company of gardeners was formed in the 3d year of James I, who made them a corporate body, with a master, warden, and assistants, and it was composed of the gardeners of London, and six miles around it. The preamble to their charter states, it was granted on account of the disappointment caused by defective samples of seeds, &c. being supplied to the public. They possessed very extensive powers and privileges no one being permitted to practise as a gardener unless first approved by the company. Such days as these, when corporations monopolized to themselves the advantages which all parties in a community whose industry entitles them to it ought to share, are fast passing away, legal enactments or restrictions in conducting private business are mostly injurious-never beneficial: they are hostile to, and generally retard improvement, and are in most cases worse than useless. We cannot, however, but perceive how extensively gardening was at this time pursued, when disappointments in its products was considered worthy of such protection. This charter was confirmed in the 14th year of the same reign. The second royal botanist of whom we find any mention, was appointed by this monarch, in the person of Matthias de Lobel, who was under the patronage of Lord Zouch: his garden, the expense of which was borne by his lordship, was at Hackney.

In the succeeding reign, that of Charles I., gardening met with universal patronage. The king being very fond of it, he conferred the title of Royal Herbalist on Parkinson. Orangeries were much attended to by the nobility:

the Queen, it is said, had one at Wimbledon, where there were 42 trees, each valued at 101. During the reign of Charles II. gardening continued to improve greatly, and it appears that glazed houses, for the protection of tender plants, were now first erected; the one at the Chelsea garden has been minutely described by Evelyn. The gardens and greenhouses at Fulham palace were, during the time of James II., greatly extended by Bishop Compton; this prelate appears to have been an indefatigable collector, possessing withal a correct and scientific taste, and he was said to possess a greater variety of plants than could be found in any other part of England. Such rapid strides had horticulture and gardening made in England at the period we are considering, that Holland, who had first imparted the impulse, was left far behind, and we strove for the mastery with France, to whom we had been also in the situation of pupils. Louis the XIV. at this time swayed its destiny, and his weaknesses contributed in no small degree to the advancement of the arts and sciences; for, while they ministered to the gratification of his passions, he became their munificent patron. It was to' this monarch that the splendid gardens of Fontainbleau, Marli, and Versailles owed existence, and the gardens of the nobility were upon a scale worthy the prevailing taste, among which those of St. Cloud, belonging to the Duke of Orleans, deserve particular notice. In the time of William III. and Mary his Queen (16891702) the Dutch style was introduced into England. Dr. Tillotson, in her funeral sermon, mentions her fondness for the pursuit. She delighted in exotics, and allowed Dr. Plunkenet 2007. per annum for his assistance in collecting, &c. Up to the period to which we are now arrived, the same stiff, formal taste prevailed in the laying out of gardens, and the only difference that existed was the expensive and splendid scale upon which it was carried into effect.

Each alley has its brother, And one half the garden just reflects the other.

The extension of these deformities hastened the introduction of a better taste; and the reign of Anne (17021714) we date from as the era whence

arose a natural taste for design in gardening. The dawn had at length broken, and during the 18th century it burst forth in meridian splendour. The united efforts of the poets and painters of the time had been paving the way for this great change. Claude Lorraine, the Poussins, Salvator Rosa, and a few others, felt the force of that harmonious union of the elements which Nature herself employs to produce all the varied scenes of beauty visible in the natural landscapes around us, and transplanted them to their canvass with such felicity, that they will remain objects of admiration to the latest period of time; but many prejudices were to be removed many gradual ascents made from bad to good before the delicious amenities of a Claude or a Poussin could be rivalled in a Stourhead, a Hagley, or a Stow, or the more tremendous beauties of a Salvator Rosa equalled in the scenes of a Piercefield or a Mount Edgecombe.

Oh! how unlike the scene my fancy forms, Did Folly, heretofore, with Wealth conspire To plant that formal, dull, disjointed scene, Which once was called a garden. Britain

still

Bears on her breast full many a hideous wound,

Given by the cruel pair, when borrowing aid
From geometric skill, they vainly strove
By line, by plummet, and unfeeling sheers,
To form with verdure what the builder
form'd

With stone.

pursued

Egregious madness! yet

With pains unwearied, with expense unsumm'd,

And science doating. Hence the sideling

walls

Kent, who both as a painter and architect, did more to reform the taste of the time than any other individual: he laid out the grounds of Claremont and Esher about 1730. We would refer the reader to the remarks made by Mr. Horace Walpole in his ingenious essay on modern gardening, if he would wish to trace the gradual change, and form a just idea of the reformation which Kent effected. From the various passages he has quoted from Milton, he endeavours to show that our divine bard had the justest and most perfect idea of this beautiful art full half a century before Kent. We ought not to pass unnoticed, as belonging to this period, Abraham Cowley, the poet, physician, and author of The Four Books of Plants. As a botanist or a gardener he would merit little attention; but his assistance to both, in winning the notice of the literary, and advancing the progress of a genuine taste for natural beauty, deserves naming.

These were successively followed as landscape gardeners by Wright, Brown, Holland, Repton, and Price, and a host of practical gardeners, whose scientific acquirements have been brought to bear upon botanical arrangements, which the master mind of Linnæus reduced to order in 1737, and the structure and uses of the several parts of plants which have in a great measure dissipated the ignorance in which vegetable physiology was enveloped. To the labourers in another portion of the field of science we are indebted for the most luminous researches and discoveries as to the food of plants, the influence of air, heat, light, soils, &c., the principles of vegetable life, and the importance of the leaves as to breathing and nourishment. Vegetable chemistry stands associated therefore with the names of Ingenhouz, Van Helmont, Priestley, Saussure, and others, whose exertions contributed a gigantic aid to the advancement of the science. The royal gardens at Kew were laid out in 1760, by Sir W. Chambers, under the direction of the Princess Dowager of Wales, mother of George III.: these have subsequently become one of the most celebrated botanical institutions in the world.

Thus, at the close of the eighteenth century, the light of science, which had begun to beam upon horticultural pur

suits towards the close of the previous one, was concentrated into a powerful focus, and the present century was ushered in under the most cheering auspices, which the formation of the horticultural societies of London and Edinburgh have tended to foster and promote, so that we may now challenge any former period of our history, or that of any other country in every department of the science. The general diffusion of scientific information among our gardeners has mainly tended to produce this effect, for though it has not been marked by any extraordinary discovery, yet, whether we consider. the style or practice of gardening at the present day we find it more generally understood, and more consistent with a chaste and classical taste as to order and beauty. Landscape gardening may indeed be said to have reached almost the acme of perfection; and as far as the practical parts of gardening are concerned we are almost justified in asserting that but little is left for after experience to improve, so that the gardener has now but to look for improvement to those sciences which may discover to him new modes of treatment, and guide him in the judicious application of his present practice, and which will be principally found in botany and chemistry. It is to botanical research we owe nearly all the flowers which in such rich variety adorn our gardens, and the varieties of fruits and culinary vegetables which supply our tables; an enlightened practice and an intelligible language are the results of an acquaintance with it, and to chemical analysis may be referred all that we know of the food and functions of plants, of soils, manures, &c., and the most appropriate mode of cultivation and treatment of the different objects that come under the gardener's care. Lavoisier, one of the greatest chemists of his day, may be quoted as an example of what may be effected by practical and scientific knowledge combined.

The practice of gardening is fostered and encouraged in the present day to an extent hitherto unknown. Patronage is necessary to the progress of every art. and gardening is receiving its share of public attention, We have already spoken of the parent Horticultural Societies, which enrol among their members almost all the talent, nobility, and

wealth of the United Kingdom-these are being subdivided and ramified throughout every principal place in the empire, local societies are springing up in every direction, and we cannot omit here to mention the formation of one, "The Metropolitan Society of Florists and Amateurs," for the promotion of the knowledge, practice, and general interests of the science of floriculture, which has done much during the past year to excite a spirit of honourable competition and rivalry in the cultivation of florists" flowers, and from whose exertions we may reasonably expect the most pleasing results in this, the most attractive and alluring department of the science, fostered and protected as it is by our fair countrywomen, at the head of whom stands pre-eminent the most illustrious name in the kingdom.

Such then has been the progressive improvement in this lovely and delightful art during the various periods of our history we have rapidly travelled over, and such are the encouraging features it presents in the present day. It has been justly observed by Bacon that " it is the purest of human pleasures," that amid such scenes" the life flows pure, the heart more calmly beats.” Strange, there should be found, Who, self-imprisoned in their proud saloons, Renounce the odours of the open field, For the unscented fictions of the loom ; Who, satisfied with only pencilled scenes, Prefer, to the performance of a god, Th' inferior wonders of an artist's hand. Lovely, indeed, the mimic works of art, But nature's works far lovelier.

those well know who having been long absent from their native land, on be holding again the fields spangled with "buttercups and daisies," "where the primrose sparkles through the hazelhedge, and the violet peeps so modestly;" or as they behold" the village elm, the well-known oak, or the unchanged yew, whose antiquity is equal to that of the church it shades" pour out the genuine effusions of their joy.

I know each lane, and every alley green, Dingle or bushy dell of this wild wood; And every bosky bourn from side to side, My daily walks and ancient neighbourhood. Comus.

The plants or trees of our country recal it forcibly to our remembrance wherever we may meet them. We are told of a young Indian (Pontaveri, from Otaheite) who, in the midst of the splendour of Paris, regretting the simple beauty of his native island, sprang forward at the unexpected sight of a ban

ana-tree in the Jardin des Plantes, embraced it, while his eyes were bathed with tears, and exclaiming with a voice of joy, "Ah! tree of my country," seemed, by a delightful illusion of sensibility, to imagine himself for a moment transported to the land which gave him birth.*

There is a land, of every land the pride;
Beloved by heav'n o'er all the world beside;
Where brighter suns dispense serener light,
And milder moons emparadise the night.
A land of beauty, virtue, valour, truth,
Time tutor❜d age, and love exalted youth.

*

Where shall that land, that spot of earth bẽ found?

Art thou a man-a patriot-look around. O thou shalt find, howe'er thy footsteps roam,

That land thy country, and that spot thy home.

Montgomery's West Indies.

M.

WE have been so taken with the astonishing, entertaining, novel, wonderful, impartial, interesting, marvellous, extraordinary, instructive, and remarkable tour of Mr. Loudon, that we find it quite necessary to adopt a similar feature in this our humble shillingworth; and we trust that our notice of the numerous beauties which come under our observation, will not be deemed inferior to those of the great man we endeavour to imitate. It may be some time before we fully succeed in the descriptive, for we are complete novices at rural architecture,landscape-gardening, cottage-building, rockmaking, and fault-finding; but there is no knowing what we can do till we try, so

here goes.

HATTON GARDEN.-A long avenue of large, tall, old-fashioned brick buildings, give a sad stiffness to this extensive property, we were so unfortunate as not to find the gardener at home, and most of the doors being fastened, we could not

*

see what plants the houses contained; but from the immense number of flues, we judge most of them contained stoves, not a single tree of any value, or curiosity, or beauty, met our eye; no gates at any of the entrances, and the place altogether, it being a wet day, looked slovenly and dirty.

COVENT GARDEN.-His Grace the Duke of Bedford, has made great improvement here within the last few years: all the offices have been rebuilt, two or three fine conservatories adorn the place, and considering the nature of the ground which is so stony, that it is impossible to plant in it, the place looks remarkably well. We entered two or three of the fruit and seed rooms, and such was the good nature of the attendants, that for a reasonable sum, we could have purchased almost any thing we fancied. There is a fountain and gold fish in front of the conservatories; we could not ascertain whether Mr. Cormack, Mr. Hockley, or Mr.