376 JOHN BARTRAM TO [1755. 



JOHN BARTRAM TO PHILIP MILLER.* 



April the 20th, 1755. 



Worthy Friend Philip Miller : 



I have received thy kind letter of February the 19th, 1755, 

 which gave me much satisfaction ; and some uneasiness, that so 

 many years have elapsed wherein we might have reciprocally com- 

 municated our observations to each other : and although thee had 

 incomparably the advantage over me, yet, notwithstanding, I love 

 to peep into the abstruse operations of nature. Perhaps I might, 

 by thy familiar instruction, have made some remarks that might 

 have been satisfactory. But, for the time to come, I hope we may 

 double our diligence, if the war with France do not obstruct our 

 endeavours. 



The Catalogue of Shrubs and Trees is very acceptable, or any 

 other books in Natural History. I have thy first and second book 

 of the Gardener's Dictionary, one sent me by Lord Petre, the 

 other by Dr. Dillenius. 



I design to take particular care to send those seeds thee men- 

 tioned, which I can procure ; and if thee will please to send by the 

 first opportunity, it may come to me soon enough to send, next 



* Philip Miller, a celebrated gardener and botanist, was born in Scotland, 

 in 1694. His father had the superintendence of the Physic Garden at Chelsea, 

 belonging to the Apothecaries' Company, and founded by Sir Hans Sloane ; to 

 which appointment he himself succeeded in the year 1722. In this situation, he 

 became distinguished by his practical knowledge of plants, and especially by his 

 skill in their cultivation. In 1731, appeared the first edition of the " Gardener's 

 Dictionary,'" in folio, the most celebrated work of its kind; which has been trans- 

 lated, copied, and abridged, at various times, and may be said to have laid the 

 foundation of all the Horticultural taste and knowledge in Europe. Linnaeus 

 said of this Dictionary, "non erit Lexicon Hortulanorum, sed Botanicorum." 



Miller continued to attend to his duties, and his favourite pursuits, to an 

 advanced age ; but was obliged at length, by his infirmities, to resign* the charge 

 of the garden. He died soon after, at Chelsea, December 18, 1771, in his seventy- 

 eighth year. Rees's Cyclopced. 



* Mr. Ellis, (who, however, had been engaged in a controversy with Miller,) 

 in a letter to Dr. Garden, dated January 2, 1771, says, "Philip Miller, the 

 Gardener of Chelsea, is turned out of his place for his impertinence to the Apotheca- 

 ries' Company, his masters. They have got a much better one, Forsyth, late 

 Gardener to the Duke of Northumberland, who has an excellent character, and 

 will revive the credit of the garden, which was losing its reputation, and every- 

 thing curious was sent to Mr. Aiton, the Princess of Wales' Gardener at Kew." 



