XV 
o* naturall life and for and during the terme of one and Twentie yeares to be accompted and 
to begin from and ymediately after o' decease & fully to be complete and ended YerEtpinc 
and paying to vs o' executors or assignes during all the terme and termes aforesaide the 
yearely rent of fower pence of currant money of England to be payd quarterly at the fower 
usuall feastes . . . . Yxrxrtpine also and annswearing yearlie to and for our owne vse 
onely at the due and proper seasons of the yeare a convenient proportion and quantitie of 
herbes flowers or fruite renewing or growing w'in the said Garden plott or piece of grounde 
by the arte and industrie of the said John Gerrard if they be lawfully required and demanded 
Given under o* seale at Whitehall the ffourteenth daie of August in the yeare of the Kings 
Ma*® of England ffraunce and Ireland the second and of Scotland the eight and thirtie.” 
This grant was “endorsed, 30 August, 1604.” The draft, which differs from the deed itself in 
some particulars, was drawn up at Theobalds. Gerard did not long enjoy the use of this garden, 
for by another endorsement we learn that he parted with all his interest in the lease, 26 Nov. 1605, 
to Robert Earl of Salisbury, second son of Lord Burleigh, then Lord Treasurer of England and 
Secretary of State jointly with Sir Francis Walsinghame, until upon the death of the later the 
whole of the duties of that office devolved upon the former. It is possible that Gerard occupied 
a similar position in the household of the son as in that of the father. 
There certainly must have been some strong reason to prevent his sustaining all the honours of 
his position, for I find an entry, 26 Sept., 1605, thus, ‘‘This day Mr. Gerrard was discharged 
of the office of second Warden and vpper governor of this Company vppon his suite and entreatie 
for certayne consideracons, And is fined for the said places x./, ye which he is p'sentlie to pay 
p’sent Mr. or governor And is hereafter to take his place as though he had serued the place 
of vpper governor Anything to the contrarie notwithstandinge.” Gerard consented to make the 
payment, but subsequently applied to have it remitted ; in December he paid the £10,” but prayed 
that it might be treated as a deposit, until the next Court, in the hope that the fine would not 
be enforced ; but the Court held 15 May, 1606, finally decided that the fine could not be foregone.* 
On 21 Oct. 1606, the subject of our memoir was fined by the court, amount not stated, for 
abusing John Peck, a fellow examiner, and ordered to be friendly and all controversy between 
them to cease.” 
In August, 1608, he was elected Master of the Barber-Surgeons’ Company, but the books of the 
Company are missing for that period ; consequently I am unable to supply any further details of 
his life. He died in February, 1611-2, and was buried in St. Andrew’s Church, Holborn, on the 
18th of that month ;* but there is nothing to indicate the actual spot; one of his friends Thomas 
Thornie has an elaborate monument in the Church. 
Gerard, no doubt, had as good practical knowledge of plants as any of his countrymen then 
living, and owing to his patronage by the most powerful statesman of the Elizabethan Court, he 
had good opportunities of enriching the gardens under his care with new plants, and he certainly 
cannot be reproached with having neglected those opportunities. His accuracy however was not 
unimpeachable, he having recorded as natives of this country, many plants he could not have found 
under the circumstances stated.** Johnson and Parkinson, who came into notice, a generation 
later, were decidedly superior to Gerard, from nearly every point of view. Still Gerard drew 
4@ MSS, Barbers’ Hall. Ibid. # Ibid. # List of Masters and Wardens, Barbers’ Hall. 
""'s Regr. St, Andrew's, Holborn, st Vide Ger. passim. 3 
y 
