HISTOKY OF BOTANY. 31 



I cannot help attributing the great botanical activity of 

 the sixteenth and succeeding centuries also to the discovery 

 of the New World. The vast accession of fresh plants, far 

 exceeding in number all that were known before, many of 

 them supplying articles of food or luxurj^ and some of them 

 flowers of fresh form or rare beauty, caused people of wealth 

 and refinement to take an increased pleasure in the cultiva- 

 tion of gardens, and patrons of learning to employ those 

 who were learned in Botany to su^oerintend their manage- 

 ment : many of these gardens were more specially devoted 

 to the cultivation and study of plants useful in medicine, 

 and were called physic gardens. In England we had also a 

 greatly increased attention paid to the cultivation of kitchen 

 garden plants and orchards, stimulated in no small degree 

 by Anne of Cleves, who, after her separation from Henry 

 VIII., amused herself much with gardening, and imported 

 many choice plants from Flanders, where the art was well 

 understood. 



§ 2. The Sixteenth Century. 



It is not within the scope of this little work to enter upon 

 the history of modern classification. Such an undertaking 

 would far exceed the limits I have appointed for myself in 

 regard to space. With the abundance of material at hand 

 from this time, it is somewhat perplexing to make a judicious 

 selection, for on the one hand to attempt too much would be 

 to make a mere list which would be neither interesting nor 

 instructive, on the other to omit particular mention of some 

 great names would be justly complained of. I therefore 

 propose to confine our history from this point as much as 

 possible to Botany in reference to the nomenclature of the 

 British Flora, and with a few exceptions not to extend it 

 beyond the time of Linneus. I take this course the more 

 readily because it does not substantially interfere with the 



