LOUDON, JOHN 



LOUGH, JOHN GRAHAM. 



esi 



This practice the author strongly condemned, and recommended the 

 lighter tree*, a* the oriental plane, the sycamore, the almond, and 

 others, which are now generally cultivated, and add greatly to the 

 lauty of London equal**. In 1804 he returned to Scotland, and in 

 the same year he published his first work, entitled ' Observations on 

 the Formation and Management of Useful and Ornamental Plantations,' 

 STO, London. He returned to England in li-05, and published a small 

 work, entitled ' A Short Treatise on some Improvements lately made 

 in Hothouse*,' 8vo, Edinburgh. In 1806 he published a 'Treatise on 

 Forming, Improving, and Managing Country Residences, and on the 

 Choice of Situations appropriate to every Class of Purchasers,' 8vo, 

 London. This work was illustrated with thirty-two copper-plate 

 engravings of landscape scenery drawn by the author. 



In 1506 an accident turned his attention to farming. Travelling one 

 night on the outside of a coach, exposed to the rain, and neglecting 

 to change his clothes, he became attacked with rheumatic fever, which 

 left him so debilitated that for the sake of his health he took lodgings 

 at Pinner, near Harrow. Here he had an opportunity of observing 

 the inferior {arming then practised in England, and persuaded his 

 father to take a farm near London. The result was that, conjointly 

 with his father, he rented Wood Hall ; and such was their success 

 that the following year London wrote a pamphlet entitled ' An Imme- 

 diate and Effectual Mode of Raising the Rental of the Landed Property 

 of England, &<x, by a Scotch Farmer, now Farming in Middlesex." 

 This led to his introduction to General Stratton, the owner of Tew 

 Park in Oxfordshire, and his undertaking the management of this 

 estate as a tenant. Here he established a kind of agricultural college, 

 in which he engaged to teach young men the principles of farming ; 

 and in 1S09 he wrote a pamphlet on the subject entitled ' The Utility 

 of Agricultural Knowledge to the Sons of the Landed Proprietors of 

 Gnat Britain, &<x, by a Scotch Farmer and Land-Agent' He carried 

 on bis farming so successfully that in 1812 he found himself worth 

 15,0001., and being more anxious for the cultivation of his mind than 

 the improvement of his circumstances, he determined to give up his 

 farm and travel on the Continent. He left England in March 1813, 

 and after visiting the principal cities of Germany and Russia, expe- 

 riencing a variety of adventures, and recording with his pen and pencil 

 all that he found worthy of notice in his owu profession, he returned 

 to his own country in 1814. On his return to London, finding that 

 the chief part of his property was lost through unfortunate invest- 

 ments, he devoted himself with renewed energy to his old profession 

 of landscape-gardening. He now determined to publish a large work 

 n the subject of gardening; and in order to complete his knowledge 

 of continental gardens, for the purpose of rendering his work more 

 valuable, Le visited France and Italy in 1819. In 1822 appeared his 

 great work, ' The Encyclopaedia of Gardening,' which contained not 

 uuly a vast amount of original and valuable matter ou every depart- 

 ment of horticulture, but was copiously illustrated with woodcuts in 

 the text. This work had a very extraordinary sale, and fully estab- 

 lished the reputation of the author as one of the most learned and 

 able horticulturists of bis day. A second edition was published in 

 1824. The success of this work led him to engage in another equally 

 laborious and extensive, and on the same plan, devoted to farming. 

 This was published in 1825, with the title ' Encyclopedia of Agri- 

 culture.' Another work, though not exactly on the same plan, but 

 similar in design and comprehensiveness, was edited by him, and 

 published in 1829, with the title ' Encyclopaedia of Plants.' This 

 however contained less of the author's own work than the preceding, 

 the plan and general design being all that he claimed as his own. 

 This was followed by another, the ' Encyclopaedia of Cottage, Farm, 

 and Villa Architecture,' which was all his own labour. " The labour," 

 says Mrs. London, "that attended this work was immense; and for 

 several mouths he and I used to sit up the greater part of every night, 

 never having more than four hours' sleep, and drinking strong coffee 

 to keep ourselves awake." This book' was published in 1832, and was 

 very successful. He then planned a work of still greater extent, 

 which demanded more time than any of the preceding : this was his 

 'Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum,' comprehending an account, 

 with engravings, of all the trees and shrubs growing wild or cultivated 

 in Oreat Britain. This work was brought out in 1838, and, with the 

 preceding, was published at his own expense. After paying artists 

 and other persons engaged in the work, " he found at its conclusion 

 that he owed ten thousand pounds to the printer, the stationer, and 

 the wood-engraver who had been employed." The sale of this work 

 was slow, and seemed to have involved him in pecuniary difficulties, 

 which, although they did not abate his energy, still preyed upon hie 

 mind, and hastened his death. 



1 luring the time that these works were going on he edited several 

 periodicals. In 1826 he established the ' Gardener's Magazine,' which 

 he carried on till bis death. In 1828 he commenced the ' Magazine 

 of Natural History,' which he edited till 1836, when it passed into 

 other hands. In 1834 he started the ' Architectural Magazine,' which 

 he gave up in 1838. In 1836 he commenced the 'Suburban 

 Gardener,' a monthly publication ; so that he had four monthly 

 works, in addition to the ' Arboretum,' going on at the same time. 



These labours would appear very extraordinary for a man in 

 perfect health and with the use of his limbs, but they become more 

 extraordinary when the circumstances are known under which he 



wrote them. His first attack of rheumatic fever, in 1806, was so 

 severe as to produce permanent anchylosis of his left knee. Subse- 

 quently bis right arm became affected, and this was so severe that 

 after trying the usual remedies he was induced to submit to sham- 

 pooing, during which process his arm was broken so close to the 

 shoulder as to render it impossible to have it set in the usual manner; 

 and on a subsequent occasion it was again broken, when it was found 

 lecessary, in 1826, to have recourse to amputation. In the meantime 

 lis left hand became so affected that he could only use the third 

 uid little finger. After this period he was obliged to employ for all 

 lis works both an amanuensis and a draftsman. With this iniirm and 

 maimed body, his tnind retained its vigour to the last. Early in 

 L848 he was attacked with chronic inflammation in his lungs, which 

 terminated his existence on the 14th of December of that year. He 

 continued working till the day of his death, and " died standing on 

 ' is feet." 



Few literary men have attempted or executed so much as London, 

 and that under circumstances of the most depressing and afllictive 

 nature. The tendency of his mind was essentially practical, and in 

 .his will be found the cause of the success and the influence of his 

 writings. In his works on gardening he displays great anxiety for 

 ;he mental improvement and welfare of the class of men who make 

 his their occupation ; and the book on which he was employed at the 

 :itue of his death is devoted to them, and is entitled ' Self-Instruction 

 or Young Gardeners.' In all his works he never lost the o 

 tunity of pointing out the bearing of his subject ou the moral and 

 social improvement of his fellow-creatures. 



He married in 1831 Jane, daughter of Mr. Thomas AVe'ubs, of 

 Etitwell House, near Birmingham. Mils. LOUDON had already (m 

 1827) published ' The Mummy,' a novel, which attracted much 

 notice, and led Mr. Loudon to seek an introduction to the authoress. 

 To her husband, as already intimated, she was an invaluable assistant 

 in his literary labours, all his subsequent nud more important works 

 owing much to her taste and industry. After his death Mrs. Loudon 

 edited more than one reprint of his more popular works, and some of 

 bis more elaborate and costly ones. In her own name Mrs. Loudon 

 lias published 'The Ladies' Flower Garden;' ' I'.utauy for Ladies; ' 

 'Gardening for Ladies;' 'The Lady's Companion to the Flower 

 Garden ; ' ' The Lady's Country Companion ; ' ' The Isle of Wight,' 

 &c. ; all of which are written in a remarkably pleasing nud perspicuous 

 style. In consideration of her own and her husband's literary services 

 a pension of 1001. a year has been awarded to her out of the Civil 

 List. The materials for the above notice of Mr. Loudon have been 

 chiefly collected from a Memoir by Mrs. London in 'Self-Instruction 

 for Young Gardeners.' We may add that their only daughter Agues 

 Loudon is the authoress of several brief tales and children's books. 



LOUGH, JOHN GRAHAM, sculptor, was born early in the 

 present century at Greeuhead, in Northumberland, wfiere his father 

 was a small farmer. Employed from his earliest days in the fields he 

 received but little school education, yet he became very fond of 

 books, taught himself to draw, and eventually to mould figures in 

 clay. Some of his models accidentally caught the eye of a gentleman 

 in the neighbourhood, who, becoming interested iu the youth, invited 

 him to his house, showed him easts and engravings from the (,;reat 

 sculptors of ancient and modern times, and thoroughly aroused his 

 openiug ambition. Young Lough laboured hard in his spare hours 

 till he felt himself strong enough to venture on the hazardous step of 

 proceeding to London and there maintaining himself while he 

 mastered the sculptor's art. Under many privations he toiled on, 

 until success began to reward his labour. In Loudon he found 

 friends and advisers, among the most ardent of whom was Haydon 

 the painter, who from the first prognosticated his future eminence. 

 As a matter of course Haydon urged the earnest study of the Kluin 

 marbles, and to these Lough devoted himself for some time with great 

 advantage. After one or two more modest ventures, Mr. Lough in 

 1827 sent to the Royal Academy exhibition a colossal statue of 'Milo,' 

 which excited a very vivid impression, and brought the sculptor 

 patrons and commissions. The 'Milo' he executed in marble for the 

 Duke of Wellington, aud the cast of it iu the Crystal Palace at 

 Sydenham will suffice to show that the self-taught sculptor had caught 

 the old Greek spirit, though not perhaps the manner, better than 

 many a carefully-trained academician. 



In 1834 Mr. Lough visited Italy, where he remained four years 

 diligently occupied in studying the great works there, but, as in 

 England, without placing himself under the direction of any master. 

 During these four years he executed several commissions for the dukes 

 of Northumberland and Sutherland, Lord Egremont, and other 

 English noblemen and wealthy commoners. On his return he exhi- 

 bited (1838) a marble group of ' A Boy giving Water to a Dolphin,' 

 in which the influence of his Italian studies was plainly visible. In 

 1840 he exhibited ' A Roman Fruit Girl ; ' in 1843 a marble statue of 

 ' Ophelia," a group, also iu marble, of ' A Bacchanalian Revel,' and a 

 ' Bas-Relief from Homer; ' in 1844, a marble group, ' Hebe Banished," 

 a statue of 'logo,' and a 'Design for the Nelson Monument." He 

 also in this year sent to the Westminster Hall Exhibition his now 

 well-known poetic group entitled 'The, Mourners:' but for 

 reason he was not one of the sculptors employed iu the decoration of 

 the New Houses of Parliament. From this time monumental statues 



