May 2J, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND OOTTAQB aARDENER. 



385 



seeds of this grand stove plant. A gardener might unknow- 

 ingly take seeds home, and young children's lives might be 

 endangered or sacrificed if my theory as to the death of the rat 

 is correct. 



I have a robin's nest at present in a plant of Polystichnm 

 angnetatum in my north house containing eggs, and a wren 

 has also built in a little hole in the back wall, from which a 

 half-brick has been taken. I had often seen the robin in the 

 house, but could not find its nest, and I never should if my 

 gardener had not pointed it out to me, so ingeniously is it 

 concealed. Anyone can see the little wren's cosy abode. 

 — T. M. Shuttlewokth, F.B.H.S., Hoicick House, Preston. 



WATERING ROSES. 



"A Parson's Gardener's" article in the Journal of May 10th 

 is exceedingly interesting and not a little amusing also to such 

 men as myself. Oar Journal no doubt is read by uumbers of 

 rosarians who never exhibit, and who look upon the Kose 

 simply as a garden flower, so that any article which has to do 

 with the cultivation of garden Roses is of great value to a large 

 class of your readers. 



Your correspondent's letters have also been of great interest, 

 not to say profit, to a large number of other readers, who do 

 not need advice as to the cultivation of the Rose, but who are 

 connected with the sale of such varieties as those named in 

 his letters. 



Soon after " A Parson's Gardener's " first letter on climb- 

 ing Roses appeared in the Journal I happened to be in the 

 Rose nursery of a large grower. He had had a number of 

 summer Roses (Boursaults), evergreens, ifcc, for years, for 

 which there was no demand. In the course of conversation he 

 told me with delight, " I have got rid of all my old Boursaults, 

 and Alice Grays, and Amadis; the demand for them has been 

 enormous since that letter of the 'Parson's Gardener' 

 appeared." Now, if he has any left, which I should doubt, ho 

 will be able next autumn to dispose of Chontjdolii, Juno, Coupe 

 d'HebO, A'C, which yonr correspondent so much recommends. 

 In fact, there is no telling how much good the " Parson's 

 Gardener" has effected and may effect. He can even extend 

 his beneficent hand over me ; he can do good to what he is 

 pleased to call a "globular ecclesiastic;" he can not only take 

 pity upon a savage but help to clothe and feed him, for he 

 recommends old "trees," not plants that are only one year 

 old. I have such a lot of old Roses, and my beds are so full, 

 that unless I can get rid of some of them I shall not be able 

 to find room for any new ones next autumn. If I sell them 

 now after this grand letter I shall be grateful, so will the 

 nurserymen who supply me ; in fact, there is not a class of 

 Rose-growers, amateur or nurserymen, who will not, if they 

 have not already, had reason to bless " A Parson's Gar- 

 dener." — Wyld Savaqe. 



EARLY WRITERS ON ENGLISH GARDENING. 



No. 32. 

 JOHN COAKLEY LETTSOM, N.D. 



Dr. Lettsom was born in a small island in the Atlantic, near 

 Tortola, called liittle Van Dyke, December 22ud, 1711. His 

 ancestors on tUo father's side originated from Letsom, a small 

 village in Cheshire ; on the mother's side they were lineally 

 descended from Sir Ciesar Coakley, an Irish baronet, whose 

 family uniformly possessed a seat in the Parliament of Ireland, 

 the last of whom was Sir Vesey Coakley. Different branches 

 of these families, during the government of Ireton in Ireland, 

 went toBarbadoes in favour of the Commonwealth, and settled 

 afterwards in different islands among that large cluster known 

 to us by the name of the Leeward and Windward Islands. 



When only about six years of age he was sent to England 

 for his education. His future destiny seems to have been 

 determined by the accidental circumstance of his landing at a 

 seaport where Mr. Fothergill, then a celebrated preacher among 

 the Quakers, and brother to the distinguished physician of that 

 name, happened to be on a visit, and he was received into the 

 very same house in which the preacher lived. By the advice 

 of that excellent man, who conceived a parental affection for 

 him, young Lettsom was sent to school to Mr. Thompson, 

 uncle to the physician of the same namo in London, who was 

 then assistant in the school, between whom and his pupil an 

 inviolable friendship commenced, and continued in advanced 

 life with unabated fervour. Mr. Thompson's school was in 

 the vicinity of Warrington, where Mr. Fothergill lived, and by 



this means the superintendence of his education was continued 

 till the period when the law admits of a youth choosing his 

 own guardian, which, in consequence of the death of his father 

 some years before, he did in the person of his friendly pro- 

 tector. The amiable pastor accepted the important charge, 

 and placed him, with a view to his future profession, with Dr. 

 Sutcliff of Settle in Yorkshire, intending, when of proper age 

 and experience, to recommend him to the patronage of his 

 brother, then in the highest practice of London. 



After leaving Dr. Sutcliff young Lettsom came to town and 

 assiduously attended St. Thomas's Hospital for two years. 

 He then returned to his native land to take possession of a 

 property which came to him by the death of his father and 

 elder brother, the latter of whom, having contrived to run 

 through an ample fortune in a few years, left very little of the 

 family estate to be inherited by his successor, except a number 

 of negro slaves. These, with that admirable spirit of benevo- 

 lence which his conduct in maturer years uniformly displayed, 

 he emancipated, and in the twenty-third year of his age, as 

 he often told his friends, found himself £500 worse than 

 nothing. 



The fortune of Mr. Lettsom was henceforth, therefore, solely 

 to be made as a medical practitioner, and so strenuous were 

 his endeavours and so extensive was his practice in Tortola, 

 where he settled, that in a very short time he was enabled to 

 return to Europe and to visit the great medical schools of 

 Paris, Edinburgh, and Leyden, at the latter of which uni- 

 versities he took his degree in 1769. To complete his educa- 

 tion he visited, besides Paris, most of the places of resort for 

 the relief of invalids abroad — as Spa in Westphalia, Aix la 

 Chapelle, and various others. When he visited Paris, among 

 other honourable recommendations he carried one from 

 Dr. Franklin to Monsieur Dubourg. He was afterwards intro- 

 duced to the celebrated Macquer, Le Koi, and other characters 

 conspicuous at that period, with whom he corresponded till 

 their decease. 



After this circuit he repaired to London, where he finally 

 settled, with the undeviating friendship of his old guardian 

 and the patronage of his brother the physician, whose life he 

 afterwards published as a tribute of gratitude and respect. 

 About the year 1769 he was admitted a licentiate of the Royal 

 College of Physicians ; the year after he was elected F.S.A., 

 and in the year succeeding that F.R.S. 



Under such patronage — with a mind richly stored with 

 science, matured by reflection, improved by early and dear- 

 bought experience — success was insured, and its fruits were 

 displayed, not in a fastidious conduct and ostentatious parade, 

 but in benevolent schemes for the relief of the distressed poor 

 and numerous charitable institutions to mitigate pain and 

 repel disease. Many of these originated with himself, and of 

 those that were planned by others several received from him 

 considerable improvement, and all his active support. Hia 

 subsequent marriage with an amiable woman and the addition 

 of a considerable fortune by that marriage enlarged his means 

 of doing good, nor did the necessary attention to the interests 

 and happiness of a numerous family (the result of that 

 marriage) permit his zeal in the cause of philanthropy to cool, 

 or restrain the current in very arduous times of a well-directed 

 liberality. He in many instances fostered genius, cherished 

 science, and expanded the circle of the arts in periods of indi- 

 vidual and national distress unprecedented in the annals of 

 this country, and his purse equally with his pen were devoted 

 to their cause. Medicine and botany were particularly in- 

 debted to his zealous researches. Foreigners of talents and 

 merit ever found a hospitable reception under his roof, and he 

 constantly corresponded with the literati of eminence both in 

 Europe and America. 



In illustration of his unbounded benevolence may be men- 

 tioned the extraordinary and well-founded fact of his having 

 been many years ago attacked, upon his return to town, on 

 Finchley Common by a highwayman, with whom his re- 

 monstrances and pecuniary assistance operated so powerfully 

 that, in the result, a public robber, impelled to transgression 

 by extremity of want, was converted into a useful member of 

 society. 



The doctor's villa near Camberwell, called Grove Hill, the 

 place of his retirement in the short intervals of professional 

 business, is situated on a spot the beauty of which in early 

 life had attracted his attention, and which he resolved to be- 

 come master of if his circumstances should become sufficiently 

 prosperous. His wishes were gratified, and the natural 

 beauties of the situation were improved and brought to the 



