5 JOHN GOODYER 



or at Oxford : it may be that he went to the local Grammar 

 School at Alton. 



His translations of Theophrastus and Dioscorides show 

 that, like many men of science, he appreciated the classics, 

 and that he was a considerable Greek scholar for his time. 

 His library included Latin, Greek, French, Italian, Dutch, 

 and German books : his notes show that he was well able 

 to find his way about them, even -though he was not very 

 familiar with ' Duch and the Teutonick'. 



As regards his walk in life we have evidence from many 

 scraps of paper, often torn, upon which he scribbled botanical 

 notes, drafted letters, kept accounts, wrote prescriptions, &c. 

 The original writings upon these papers generally relate 

 to legal proceedings, village affairs, the collection of tithe 

 and taxes, while two or three documents definitely associate 

 Goodyer with Sir Thomas Bilson, Knight, of West 

 Mapledurham, as his steward or agent. 



Goodyer's service with the Bilsons is of some importance, 

 because all who have hitherto written of him have followed 

 Johnson in describing him as John Goodyer of Mapledurham, 

 thereby suggesting that he was a landed proprietor in that 

 place. Moreover, the name by confusion with the well-known 

 Mapledurham on the Thames, has led to the concealment of 

 John's identity, as, for instance, when the editor of the 

 Flora of Hampshire r&mdir^s in 1883 that as Maple Durham 

 is in Oxfordshire, Goodyer's Maple Durham was a possible 

 misprint for Maple Durwell, near Basingstoke ! 



A clear account of the exact relations of the Hampshire 

 Mapledurhams is given in the Victoj'ia County History of 

 Hampshire. They are situate in the parish of Buriton 

 in the hundred of Finchdean. From an original manor 

 of Mapledurham, dating from before the conquest, were 

 divided a chief manor of Mapledurham, formerly held by 

 the Gibbons, and now by the Bonham-Carter family, and 

 the manor of West Mapledurham which Bishop Bilson 

 purchased : it is now held by a member of the Legge 

 family. Then there is Weston, a tithing in the parish of 



