155 



Thorntoa of Clapham deserves particular mentiun for their en- 

 couragement of Exotick Botany. The Garden and Hot Housei 

 of the latter were amoag the best stocked about London. 



A great stimulus to the culture of ornamental plants was given 

 by the publication of the Botanical Magazine, which commen- 

 ced in 1787; the works of Lee, Lodig;es, &c. and this taste 

 was further revived by the publication of JMaddocks's Florist's 

 Directory in 1792.* The various works which appeared, and 

 the influence which they had in promoting' the interests of our 

 Art may be judged from the biographical and critical sketcheis 

 which follow. 



JOHN LAWRENCE or LAURENCE was admitted B. A. 

 of CJare Hall, Cambridge, in 1680. He was presented to the 

 Rectory of Yelvertoft, in Northamptonshire, in 1703, previous 

 to which he had become M. A. To the cultivation of the Gar- 

 don of the Rectory House die assiduously applied, and though 

 its soil was shallow, and on the worst description of subsoil, 

 viz. a white clay, in three years he grew in it some of the 

 choicest fruit. In 1721, he moved to the Rectory of Bishop's 

 Wearmouth, in the County of Durham. In 1723, he was a 

 prebendary of Salisbury. He died at his rectory, in 1732. 

 He was a naturalist and very fond of Horticulture, especially 

 that part of it which includes the culture of fruits, priding him- 

 self upon the richness of his deserts. Working in his Garden, 

 he tells us was " the best and almost only physick" he took. 

 He is represented as hospitable and generous, but we cannot 

 entertain a very high opinion of his honour, if Lintot the Book- 

 seller adhered to the truth in complaining that in his " New 

 System of Gardening," in different words he had republished 

 what he had previously sold to him (Lintot) in the form of 

 " The Clergyman's and Gentleman's Recreation." He wrote, 



• Loudon'i Encyclopoidia of GaidaQing, 86. •dit. S. 



