BOTANICAL INVESTIGATION IN MIDDLESEX. 375 



peared the two first parts of the PhytograjpJiia. The first, dedicated to 

 Henry Compton, Bishop of London, consists of 72 plates; and the second, 

 inscribed to George Bentinck, Earl of Portland, of 48 (73-120). The next 

 year was published the ihird part, containing 130 more plates (121-250), 

 and dedicated to King William. This contains an index to the whole three. 

 In 1696, 78 more plates were added (251-328), with letterpress relating to 

 the whole. This book has the title of AlmagesUim Botanicum. A Mantissa, 

 or supplement, to the Almagestum with 22 more plates (329-350) was printed 

 in 1 700 ; it also contains an index to the whole book. 



Hitherto, all his works had been printed entirely at his own expense and 

 without a publisher ; but his last book, the Amaltheum, which appeared in 

 1705, and by the addition of 104 new plates brought up the whole to 454, 

 was helped into the world by the subscription of fifty-five guineas, contri- 

 buted by a few celebrated men, including the Earl of Portland. 



All these volumes may be considered as parts of one great work on new 

 and rare plants from all parts of the world, containing, according to 

 Pulteney, 2,740 figures, with descriptive letterpress.* Though, of course, 

 chiefly devoted to exotic species, several British plants were first figured in 

 these plates. The figures are generally good, though stiff; a large number 

 of varieties are given. The original specimens of many are in the British 

 Museum 



Plukenet died on July 12, 1706, aged 64, and was buried in his parish 

 church, St. Margaret's, Westminster. In the parochial register he is de- 

 scribed as ' Dr. Leonard Pluckenett, Queen's Botanist.' 



A portrait of our author in his forty-eighth year, prefixed to the Pht/to- 

 graphia, gives the impression of an amiable man, which his letters confirm. 

 He was a staunch defender of Protestantism before the accession of William 

 III., and seems to have been a sincerely pious man. From the contents of 

 two very humble letters addressed to the Earl of Portland, one of which is 

 a refutation of some malicious insinuations made by ' Mrs. Dorothy,' a 

 servant in his lordship's household, one would gather him to have been in 

 rather poor circumstances ; but these, which are without date, were probably 

 written in his earlier years. 



His great devotion and extraordinary application to his favourite study 

 are sufficiently evident from his writings. In the Mantissa he is somewhat 

 harsh in his criticisms of Petiver ; but it must be allowed that his strictures 

 are well-deserved (see biographical notice of Petiver). 



The backs of several letters in the Sloane MSS. are covered with attempts 

 to form an anagram out of his own name, in which he was at last successful -. 

 thus, * Leonardus Plucenetius,' ' Ut pene nullus sic ardeo.' This he adopted 

 as his motto, and it appears in the title-page of each of the parts of the 

 Phytographia. 



Plukenet left two sons — one, Eichard, was at Cambridge in 1696 {Pulte- 

 ney) ; the other, Robert, was educated at Eton. 



* The whole were reprinted in 1720, and again in 1769, in four vols. An index of 

 Linntean names was published in 1779 by Dr. Giseke. 



