fond of books, bad an insuperable aversion from learning languages, and no per 

 suasions could induce him to study Latin and French, though his father had a 

 master from Edinburgh purposely to teach him the latter language. At this 

 early period, however, a taste for landscape-gardening began to show itself, as his 

 principal pleasure was in making walks and beds in a little garden his father had 

 given him ; and so eager was he to obtain seeds to sow in it, that when a jar of 

 tamarinds arrived from an uncle in the West Indies, he gave the other children 

 his share of the fruit, on condition of his having all the seeds. While yet quite 

 a child, he was sent to live with an uncle in Edinburgh, that he might attend the 

 classes at the public school. Here he overcame his dislike to Latin, and made 

 extraordinary progress in drawing and arithmetic. He also attended classes of 

 botany and chemistry, making copious notes, illustrated with very clever pen-and- 

 ink sketches. Still, he could not make up his miud to learn French, till one day, 

 when he was about fourteen, his uncle, showing a fine French engraving to a 

 friend, asked his nephew to translate the title. This he could not do ; and the 

 deep shame and mortification which he felt, and which he never afterwards forgot, 

 made him determine to acquire the language. Pride, however, and a love of 

 independence, which was ever one of his strongest feelings, prevented him from 

 ap])lying to his father to defray the expense ; and he actually paid his master him- 

 self, by the sale of a translation which he afterwards made for the editor of a 

 periodical then publishing in Edinburgh. He subsequently studied Italian, and 

 paid his master in the same manner. He also kept a journal from the time he 

 was thirteen, and continued it for nearly thirty years ; writing it for many years 

 in French, in order to familiarize himself with the language. 



Among all the studies which Mr. Loudon pursued while in Edinburgh, those 

 he preferred were writing and drawing. The first he learned from Mr. Paton, 

 afterwards father to the celebrated singer of that name ; and, strange enough, I 

 have found an old letter of his to Mr. Loudon, Sen., prophesying that his son 

 John would be one of the best writers of his day — a prophecy that has been 

 abundantly realized, though certainly not in the sense its author intended it. 

 Drawing was, however, his favorite pursuit; and in this he made such proficiency, 

 that when his father at last consented to his being brought up as a landscape- 

 gardener, he was competent to take the situation of draughtsman and assistant to 

 Mr. John Mawer, at Easter Dairy, near Edinburgh. Mr. Mawer was a nursery- 

 man, as well as a planner (as the Scotch call a landscape-gardener) ; and, while 

 with him, Mr. Loudon learned a good deal of gardening generally, particularly 

 of the management of hothouses. Unfortunately, Mr. Mawer died before his 

 pupil was sixteen ; and for three or four years afterwards, Mr. Loudon resided 

 with Mr. Dickson, a nurseryman and planner in Leith Walk, where he acquired 

 an excellent knowledge of plants. There he boarded in Mr. Dickson's house ; 

 and, though remarkable for the nicety of his dress, and the general refinement 

 of his habits, his desire of improvement was so great, that he regularly sat up 

 two nights in every week to study, drinking strong green tea to keep himself 

 awake ; and this practice of sitting up two nights in every week he continued for 

 many years. While at Mr, Dickson's, he attended classes of botany, chemistry, 

 and agriculture ; the last under Dr. Coventry, who was then Professor of Agri- 

 culture in the University of Edinburgh, and he was considered by that gentleman 

 to be his most promising pupil. 



In truth, it has been highly gratifying to me, while turning over family papers 

 to obtain what particulars I could of my husband's early life, to find continually, 

 copy and account books, letters which had been, no doubt, treasured 

 mother, from different persons under whom he had studied, bearing the most 



