36 i 



JOUENAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEE, 



( Odobtr 21, 1875. 



he was assidnona in collecting plants into the garden under 

 his charge is proved by its catalogue which he published. This 

 is entitled, " Catalogus Plantarnm Horti Medici Oxoniensis. 

 Sc. Latino-Anglicus and Anglico-Latinus. Eas alpbabetico 

 ordine accurate exhibens. 1648." 



In the address "To the Header" there is this compli- 

 ment paid to " Bobert," as it is there spelt, that the catalogue 

 is of the very valuable contents of the garden so largely in- 

 creased in a short time by his diligenca, care, and indiiatry. 

 There were then eixteen 

 hundred " stirpes," but very 

 many were varieties — for in- 

 stance, of Primulas there 

 were "Feild Cowslips, Feild 

 Oxelips, Double Paigles.Cow- 

 slips two in a hose, Feild 

 Primrose, Double White 

 Primrose, Single White 

 Primrose, Single Purple 

 Primrose, Single Blue Prim- 

 rose, Greene Primrose, and 

 Curled Cowslip." 



Bobart was an entomolo- 

 gist as well as botanist, for 

 Bay, writing to Aubrf^y, says 

 — " I am glad that Mr. 

 Bobart hath been so dili- 

 gent iu observing and mak- 

 ing a collection of insects." 



I3obart died in the eighty- 

 first year of his age, in the 

 garden-house, on the 4th of 

 February of IGT'.t, and was 

 buried in tho churchyard of 

 St. Peter-in-the-Ei6t, Ox- 

 ford, and a tablet to his me- 

 mory placed against the 

 church wall. His portrait 

 was painted by D. Loggan, 

 and an engraving from that 

 picture is copied by our 

 wood-engraver. Beneath tho 

 original engraving is this 

 couplet — 



" Thon German princo of plant?, 

 each year to thee 

 Thousands of subjects grant a 

 subsidy. " 



la the British Museum is 

 an album (probably his son's) 

 in which is this characteris- 

 tic autograph — 



Fig. 77.— JiCOIi BODART. 



dow," holden from St. Mary Magdalene College, upon con- 

 dition that he paid " unto .my daughter Ann the sum of ten 

 pounds yearly " during her life. The testator's son .Joseph 

 appears to have been then dead, for he devises a silver cup 

 that was Joseph's to his son Jacob, " with all my garden 

 plants and half my books." To his son TUleman he devised 

 " the lease of my houses at Smyth Gate," leased from the Oxford 

 Corporation, but his executrix, who was his second wife, was to 

 have during her life the rents and profits. To TUleman he also 



bequeathed the other half of 

 his books. To his daughter 

 Catherine he bequeathed 

 £30 ; to his daughter Ara- 

 bella, £10 ; to his daughter 

 Elizabeth , £40 ; to his daugh- 

 ter Margaret his tenement 

 in George Lane, Oxford, hut 

 his executrix to receive the 

 rent during her life. To his 

 daughter " Mary, wife of 

 Kiehard Collier," he be- 

 queathed £5, and to his 

 daughter Ann 20s. a-year. 

 In conclusion he made his 

 " weU-beloved wife Ann " his 

 executrix and residuary lega- 

 tee, and asks his friends, 

 Mr. William Shaw and Mr. 

 Richard Moons, to assist 

 her, and in return bequeaths 

 to each 5s., "to buy them 

 gloves." 



A poem, entitled " Ver- 

 tumnus. An epistle to Mr. 

 Jacob Bobart, Botany Pro- 

 leEsor to the University of 

 Oxford, and keeper of the 

 Phjsic Garden. By the au- 

 thor of ' The Apparition ' 

 (Dr. Evans) 1713," has been 

 considered as addressed to 

 the elder Bobart, but no 

 mention is made of him ; it 

 is an eulogium of his son si- 

 milarly named, unless these 

 couplets may be taken as an 

 allusion to the first formation 

 of the Oxford garden. 

 " All plants which Europe's fields 

 contain 

 For health, for pleasure, or for 

 pain, 

 Her squares of horticulture yield. 

 By Danby planted, Bobart till'd.'' 



" Think that day lost whose descending ean 

 Views from thy hand no noble action done. 

 Yr. saccefls and happyness 



is sincerely wished by 

 " Ja. Bobart, Osford." 



The will of Jacob Bobart the elder was proved in the Court 

 of the Chancellor of Oxford, and is there preserved. It is 

 dated 2nd of November, 1677. The will of his son Jacob was 

 proved in the same Court, and is dated '2nd of January, 1720. 



The peculiarities of those who interest us are noteworthy, 

 and therefore I jot down that on festive occasions Bobart 

 decorated his beard with silver tags, and that he had as his 

 following companion a goat instead of a dog. He 

 always spelt his name Bobert, but his son as uni- 

 formly substituted an a for the e. 



He was twice married. By his second wife he had 

 no issue, but by his first three sons, Jacob, Joseph, 

 and Tilleman, as well as seven daughters. Jacob 

 succeeded him as keeper of the Oxford garden. 

 Tillpmau Bobart countersigned in conjunction with 

 H. Joynos and J. Vanburgh the account of work 

 done for the Duke of Marlborough at Blenheim in 

 the concluding months of 170'J. His brother Jacob 

 devised tJ him the chief part of his property. 



Bobart the elder's will, after the usual religions preface and 

 declaration of the testator's being "of good and perfect mind 

 and memory," directs his body " decently to be buried in 

 the churchyard of Saint Peter-in-tho East, in the city of 

 Oxon, near my dear wife Mary." It devises "unto my eldest 

 son Jacob Bobert the lease of my Greyhound Inn and mea- 



Knowing that Mr. Henry Tilleman Bobart 

 some years since was collecting materials for a 

 biography of his ancestor I wrote to him on 

 the subject. He obligingly sent me some 

 MSS., but they related chiefly to the descend- 

 ants of Bobart the elder. This is especially 

 the case with the very full pedigree he has 

 prepared, but I obtained from it the Bobart 

 crest, an Oak branch of silver bearing golden 

 acorns, and his signature, of which this is a 

 copy :— 



eisa£«ass> 



^^.f. 



— G. 



DUNORL.\N, 



THE SEAT OF B. H. COLLINS, ESQ. 



It was on a lovely afternoon in September that I set out 

 from Tunbridge Wells in search of Dunorlan, in response to a 

 courteous invitation from Mr. Walker, who has had charge of 



