GARDENS OF THE STUARTS 



169 



study of botany, with a fondness for the classification 

 of new specimens, became common. Herbals and 

 horticultural trea- 

 tises were examined 

 eagerly and herbal- 

 ists attained great 

 fame. Parkinson, 

 an apothecary to 

 the king, wrote the 

 " Theatrum Botani- 

 cum," one of the 

 best-known works 

 on botany. The Tradescants, father and son, were dis- 

 tinguished as importers of exotics from Holland and 

 America. Their epitaph is characteristic : 



" Know, stranger, ere thou pass, beneath this stone 

 Lye John Tradescant, grandsire, father, son. 

 The last died in his spring ; the other two 

 Liv'd till they had travell'd Art and Nature through ; 

 As by their choice collections may appear 

 Of what is rare, in land, in sea, in air. 

 Whilst they (as Homer's Illiad in a nut) 

 A world of wonders in one closet shut. 

 These famous Antiquarians that had been 

 Both gardeners to the Rose and Lily Queen 

 Transplanted now themselves, sleep here, and when 

 Angels shall with their trumpets waken men 

 And fire shall purge the world, these hence shall rise, 

 And change this garden for a Paradise." 



The Trades 

 cants. 



