394 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 81. 



" It was not the youngest John Tradescant that died 

 in 1652, but tlie oldest, the grandfather, the first of that 

 name that settled in England." 



_ The conflicting accounts and confusion in the 

 history of the Tradescants, liave no doubt arisen 

 from the three, "graudsire, father, and son," having 

 been all named John ; consequently, for the sake 

 of perspicuity, I shall adopt the plan of our worthy 

 editor, and designate the Tradescant wlio first 

 settled in England, No. 1.; his son, who published 

 tlie MuscEum Tradescantianum, No. 2. ; and the 

 son of the latter, who "died in his spring," No. 3. 

 Now, to prove that it was the youngest of the 

 Tradescants, No. 3., who died in 165^, we have 

 only to refer to the preface of the MiiscBum Tra- 

 descantianum, which was published in 16-56. There 

 we find that Tradescant No. 2. says that — 



" .\boiit three years agoe (by the pers^vasion of some 

 friends) I was resolved to take a catalogue of those 

 rarities and curiosities, which my father had sedulously 

 collected, and myself with continued diligence have 

 augmented and hitherto preserved together." 



He then proceeds to account for the delay in the 

 publication of the work in these words : 



" Presently thereupon my onely son died, one of my 

 friends fell sick," &c. 



Again, in Ashinole's Dlanj we find the following 

 entry : 



" Sept. 11th, 1652. Young John Tredescant died." 

 And, further on, Ashmole states tliat 



" He was buried by his grandfather, in Lambeth 

 Churchyard." 



The word by, in the quotation, meaning, by the side 

 of, close by his grandfather. The burial register 

 of Lambeth parish gives the date of the interment, 

 Sept. 16, 1652. Ashmole's Diary, as quoted by 

 Dr. Rimbault, and the burial register also, give 

 the date of the death of Tradescant No. 2., who 

 survived his son ten years : the family then became 

 extinct. 



Ashmole, who became acquainted with the 

 Tradescants in 1650, never mentions the grand- 

 father (No. 1.), nor is his name to be found in the 

 burial registry; and consequently the date of his 

 death, as far as I have read, has always been set 

 down as uncertain. There are other parish re- 

 cords, however, than burial registers ; and I was 

 well repaid for my search by finding, in the 

 Churchwardens' Accounts of St. Mary's,"Lambeth, 

 the following entries : 



" 16:H. June 1. Received for burial of Jane, wife of 

 John Tradeskin, 12s." 



" 1637-8. Item. John Tradeskin; ye gret bell and 

 black cloth, 5s. 4d." 



This last entry, in all probability, marks the 

 date of the death of the first Tradescant. Assum- 

 ing that it does, and as tlie engraving by Hollar 

 represents him as far advanced in years, his age 

 did not exclude him from having been in the ser- 



vice of Queen Elizabeth, so much so as it would if 

 he had died in 1652. I read the line on the tomb- 

 stone, — 



" Both gardeners to the Rose and Lily Queen " — 

 as signifying that one of the Tradescants had been 

 gardener to Elizabeth, the Rose Queen, and the 

 other to Henrietta, the Lily Queen. However, 

 as that is little more than a matter of opinion, not 

 of historical fact, it need not be further .alluded to 

 at present. 



I am happy to say, that I have every reason to 

 believe that 1 am on the trace of new, curious, 

 and indisputably authentic information respecting 

 the Tradescants. If successful, and if the editor 

 will spare me a corner, I shall be proud to com- 

 municate it to the readers of " Notes and 

 Queries." 



Tradescant's house, and the house adjoining, 

 where Ashmole lived, previous to his taking pos- 

 session of Tradescant's house, after Mrs. Trades- 

 cant's death (see Ashmole's Diary), are still stand- 

 ing, though they have undergone many alterations. 

 Even there, the name of Tradescant seems for- 

 gotten : the venerable building is only known by 

 a nick-name, derived most probably from its antique 

 chimneys. I had many weary pilgrimages before 

 I discovered the identical edifice. I have not seen 

 the interior, but am aware that there are some 

 traces of Ashmole in the house, but none whatever 

 of Tradescant in either house or garden. I had a 

 conversation with the gardener of the gentleman 

 who now occupies it : he appeared to have an in- 

 distinct idea that an adept in his own profession 

 had once lived there, for he observed that, " If old 

 What's-his-name were alive now, the potato dis- 

 ease could soon be cured." Oil ! what we anti- 

 quaries meet with ! He further gave me to 

 understand that '■'■ furriners sometimes came there 

 wishing to see the place, but that I was the only 

 Englishman, tliat he recollected, who expressed 

 any curiosity about it." 



The restorers of the tomb of the Tradescants 

 merely took away the old leger stone, on which 

 were cut the words quoted by A. W. II. (Vol. iii., 

 p. 207.), and replaced it by a new stone bearing 

 the lines quoted by Dr. Rimbault, which were 

 not on the original stone (see Aubrey's Surrey), 

 and the words — 



" Erected 1562. 

 Repaired by Subscription, 1773." 



But although the name of the childless, perse- 

 cuted widow, Hester Tradescant, is not now on 

 the tomb which she piously erected to the memories 

 of her husband and son ; still, on the west end of 

 it, can be traced the form of a hydra tearing a 

 human skull — fit emblem of the foul and vulture- 

 like rapacity of Elias Ashmole. 



AYlLLIAM PiNKEETON. 

 Dalmeny Cottage, Ham, Surrey. 



