324 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 



grows by the wall, was probably planted when intro- 

 duced from Nepaul in 1823. The wistaria and pome- 

 granate are old and still flourishing, and young plants 

 of the trees once famous in the Garden are doing 

 well. The amount of attention the novelties in the 

 Physic Garden used to attract is well shown by the 

 spurious translation of De Sorbiere's travels. The little 

 book, published in 1698, purported to be a translation 

 of De Sorbiere, but was really an original skit. The 

 writer pretends De Sorbiere visited the Garden, and re- 

 ported a delightful series of imaginary flowers. " I was 

 at Chelsey, where I took particular notice of the plants 

 in the Green House at that time, as Urtica male oleus 

 Japoni^y the stinking nettle of Japan ; Goosberia sterelis 

 Armenia^ the Armenian gooseberry bush that bears no 

 fruit (this had been potted thirty years) ; Bramhelia fruc- 

 tificans Laplandia^ or the Blooming Bramble of Lapland ; 

 with a hundred other curious plants, and a particular 

 Collection of Briars and Thorns, which were some part 

 of the curse of the Creation." That it was worth while 

 laughing at the Garden in a popular skit, shows what 

 an important position it had taken. The green-houses 

 were among the earliest attempted, and many scientific 

 visitors describe their plans and arrangements. They 

 were rebuilt at great cost in 1732. The statue to Sir 

 Hans Sloane, by Michael Rysbrach, stood in a niche in 

 the green-house wall. It was moved to the centre of the 

 Garden in 175 1, where it still stands. The Garden was 

 honoured by a visit from the great Linnaeus in 1736, and 

 he noted in his diary : " Miller of Chelsea permitted me 

 to collect many plants in the Garden, and gave me several 

 dried specimens collected in South America." Among 

 the valuable bequests to the Garden were collections of 



