May 13, 1875. ] 



JOURNAL OP HOBTIODLTUBB AND OOTTAGB GA.RDKNEB. 



371 



man's repast, and the translation was finisht and foorth of my 

 hands above a dozen years agone, a time wherein bumbaated 

 breeches and straight whalebon'd doublets had neither use nor 

 estimation," fashions of France and Spain of which he was 

 not the only satirist. 



In ICOO he produced " Tears of the Beloved," and the year 

 following " Marie Magdalene's Tears," two religious poems, 

 recently republished with a memoir by the Eev. A. R. Grosart. 

 In 1C08 he translated " Aiiosto's Satyree," and in the same 

 year produced, in cj-operation with Lewis Machin, " The 

 Dumb Knight." It is a comedy, the plot taken chiefly from 

 Bandello'e novels, and the scene assumed to be the lale of 

 Cyprus. In 1G09 he translated inverse from the Italian " The 

 noble courtezan, Paulina;" and lastly, in 1C2'2, the tragedy of 

 " Herod and Antipas," founded on the narrative in Josephua's 

 " Antiquities of the Jews." 



In 1599 he published his first prose work that I have seen, 

 " How to chuse, ride, traine, and diet both hunting horses 

 and running horses, &a." It is dedicated to " his singular 

 good father Ma. Robert Markham, of Gotham, in the oountie of 

 Nottingham, Esquire." In it he states he has here "gathered 

 together my lives experience," and that " no man's aplaus can 

 better please me," for his father was as fond of horses as 

 himself, and it so fell out that Gotham, his chief manor, be- 

 came the property of the Duke of Newcastle, who loved horses 

 as well. "The manor still belongs to the duke's descendants. 



In 1595 was published "The Gentleman's Academie; or the 

 Booke of St. Albans, containing three most exact and excellent 

 Books — Hawking, Hunting, and Armoiie, compiled by Juliana 

 Barnes in 1186, now reduced into a better methode by G. M., 

 and dedicated to the gentlemen of England, and all the good 

 fellowship of Huntsmen and Falconers." Another edition was 

 published in 1801. This, I have no doubt, was prepared by 

 Gervase Markham. 



I must do little more than record the names and dates of 

 Markham's many books ou the same subject. In ICIG ap- 

 peared his " Methode or Epitome," detaihng remedies for the 

 diseases of all " animals aud birds kept for profit." la the 

 f ame year was published his " Gavalarice, or the English Horse- 

 man," in eight books, each dedicated to a different patron. 

 Next came forth his " Master-Piece," of which I have only 

 seen the fifth edition, dated 1G36. In 1639 appeared his 

 . " Gomplete Farrier," which in the preface he announceg sa 

 " the last of all my labours," and well it might, for his " Failh- 

 full Farrier " had been published the year previously, yet he 

 had signed its preface " Gervas Markham's last and leit 

 labours ! " These Lud been withheld from the press by the 

 publishoiB to whom he had sold them, and were not publi.-hed 

 until after his decease. Thf y related to subjects on which he 

 wrote with the authority of a master. So much were his 

 writings on the subject in request, and so many books relative 

 to the subject did he compose, that at last ho agretd with 

 tbeir publishers to write no more ! In consequence, probal>Iy, 

 a work he wrote remained unpublished, and of which Mr. 

 Clements R. Markham informs me he has the MS. It is 

 entitled "La Marescale, or the Horse Marshall, allso those 

 secrets wch I practise but never imparted to any man." The 

 agreement not to publish is as follows : — " Mem. That I 

 Gervase Markham of London, gent., do promise hereafter 

 never to write any more book or books to be printed of the 

 diseases or cures of any cattle, horse, ox or cow, sheepe, swine, 

 or goates. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand 

 the 21th dale of July, 1017.— Gervase Markham." 



This memorandum has been said to be in the archives of 

 the Stationers' Company, but after repeated searches the 

 courteous officials of the Company have not found it. They 

 have found and copied for me the following entry, which 

 shows that the publishers of those days had contentions about 

 his published works : — " August, 1617. The Court issued an 

 Order to settle the controversie between Roger Jackson and 

 John Mariot for the printinge of the booke called Markham's 

 ' Farewell to Horsemanehippe and Husbandry.' " 



" The perfect Horseman, or the experienced secrets of Mr. 

 Markham's fifty years practice, now published by Lancelot 

 Thetford, practitioner in the same art for the space of forty 

 years," was published in 1655. The preface states that " Not- 

 withstanding all Mr. Markham's promises in his former books 

 to lay opeu liis cabinet couucels you shall here find many 

 most rare secrets bequeathed as a legacy to his most intimate 

 friend the publisher hereof." Prefixed to this volume is the 

 portrait of Markham, of which an enlarged copy accompanies 

 these notes. 



During the years he was publishing those works he em- 

 ployed his pen and other publishers upon the recreations of 

 rural lite. " Country Contentments," relative to hunting, hawk- 

 ing, and housekeeping issued from the press in 1615. " Con- 

 ceytted letters newly layde opeu," in 1618, which in modern 

 phrase is " a polite letter writer." " Hungers prevention or the 

 whole arte of fowling " in 1021 ; and " The Art of Aroherie " 

 in 1634. 



I now come to the few works which entitle Markham to a 

 place in these notes. The first was " Cheape and Good Hus- 

 bandry." The fifth edition, the only one I have seen, appeared 

 in 1631, and though including much that he had before pub- 

 lished relative to animals, yet it includes new information 

 relative to poultry and bees. 



The next was much more original, but I do not know the 

 date of its first publication. The copy before me is entitled, 

 " The English Husbandman — 1st part husbandly duties. 2nd, 

 Planting, grafting, gardening, &c. Newly corrected, etc., by 

 the first author, G. M. 1635." lu the dedication to the Duko 

 of Lenox he says, " When I was a servant to your noble 

 ancestor, and had houres to bestow on my own studies, then 

 at Layton, I first thought of this work." He ridicules those 

 who translated from Virgil, Xenophou, Libault, and others, 

 justly observing that their directions were for other climates. 

 It is a really practical work, and shows that many of our varie- 

 ties of fruits are more than two centuries old. For example, 

 among early Apples are Jenilings — Wibourns — Pomederoys 

 — Qaeene Apples. He details directions for raising stocks from 

 kernels and stones, and those for grafting are good, and so 

 are those for managing the fruit-room. He denounces the 

 undervaluing of our English gardeners, aud says, " I call into 

 my remembrance that in all the forraine places I have seene 

 there is none more worthy then our owne." The engravings 

 of knots for the flower garden are many and origiual. 



In 1G20 he published "Farewell to"Husbaudry, or enrich- 

 ment of barren grounds." In 1631 "Eniichment of the Weald 

 of Kent," which especially recommends the employment of 

 marl a^ a manure, and seems from the dedication to a Kentish 

 laud-proprietor to have been written e-'peoially at his instiga- 

 tion. In 1623 Markham had published an edition of " The 

 Country Housewife's Garden," but I am not aware of the date 

 of its first appearance. Of its conteuts it will suiiioe to quote, 

 " In the month of Aprill the moone being new sow Marjoram ; 

 iii the full of the moone Apples of Love." 



Just after his death in 1638 a publisher combined the various 

 cultural works of Markham, and published them under the 

 title of " A way to get wealth, containing sixe priueipall voca- 

 tions or callings, in which every good husband or housewife 

 may lawfully imploy themselves." The sixth, however, " The 

 making of Orchards," was by William Liiwson. 



The course of Markham's life was uneventful, being such as 

 is the usual career of a man whose breadwinner is his pen. 

 His knowledge of horses led to his being employed by James I. 

 to obtain him an Arabian horse. Markham imported it from 

 Constantinople, and obtained for it £500 from the King. It is 

 not improbable that he owed his introduction to that monarch 

 to his kinsman, aud I believe elder brother, whose memorial 

 stone in the south aisle of St. Mary's Church, Islington, has 

 this inscription — " Hero lyeth the body of John Markham, 

 Esq., one of the Serjeants-at-Arms to our most gracious Sove- 

 reign King James, &e., who dyed the 26th of August, 1610. 



" Ho was both Rontilko born ami gentilke bred. 

 And ere he ilyed was well marryed 

 Unto a vertuous aud a luviu;^ wife, 

 Who losing liim loathed her life; 

 Whose love hath built this for eternity, 

 That he may still be had in memory." 



Like his kinsman Gervas was also " well marryed." His 

 wife was Anne, daughter of J. Gelsthorpe, Esq. They had no 

 children. 



On referring to the registers of burials at St. Giles's, Cripple- 

 gate, I found this entry — " 1630. Jarvis Markham, gentleman, 

 February 3." As the year then commenced in March, he was 

 buried in the February of 1637 according to our present calen- 

 dar. BIy reference to the registers was a consequence of a 

 statement made in the Rev. Alexander Grosart's memorial 

 that Colonel Chester had made a note that such a record wag 

 there. He rests among many more celebrated men, for Milton 

 the poet, Fox the martyrologist, Frobisher the arctic navigator, 

 Speed the topographer, and Dr. William BuUeyn, one of our 

 earliest herbalists, are there interred. 



That Markham died poor there can be no reasonable doubt. 



