254 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND. 



place at the back of Guild Hall ; plane trees by St. Dunstan- 

 in-the-East, above forty feet high, besides all the numerous 

 plants seen growing to perfection at Westminster, and " the 

 parts of London near the river." So many curious plants 

 were raised by this enthusiastic gardener in his own garden 

 at Hoxton, that he thought with proper care almost anything 

 would grow in the town. He completes a list by saying, " I 

 am almost persuaded that the olive would do well in London." 



The name of Fairchild is still remembered in the part 

 of London in which he lived. "The Fairchild Lecture" is 

 delivered annually in St. Leonard's, Shoreditch, in accordance 

 with the bequest left by him. The subject of the sermon, 

 which is preached on Whit-Tuesday, is either on " The 

 Wonderful Works of God in the Creation," or " On the 

 certainty of the resurrection of the dead, proved by the certain 

 changes of the animal and vegetable parts of the creation." 

 The preacher, appointed yearly by the Bishop of London, 

 still expresses from the pulpit the founder's views. 



Fairchild was a member of a Society of Gardeners, and seems 

 to have taken a leading part, as his name stands first upon the 

 list of the members given at the end of the preface of the 

 work published by them, the year after Fairchild's death.* This 

 book is one of great interest. Only one part w r as published, 

 others were to follow if the first met sufficient encouragement, 

 and that this was not so, is much to be regretted. The following 

 gardeners were the joint authors : 



Thomas Fairchild. 

 Robert Furber. 

 John Alston. 

 Obadiah Lowe. 

 Philip Miller. 

 John Thompson. 

 Christopher Gray. 

 Francis Hunt. 

 Samuel Driver. 

 Moses James. 



George Singleton. 

 Thomas Bickerstaff. 

 William Hood. 

 Richard Cole. 

 William Welstead. 

 Benjamin Whitmill. 

 Samuel Hunt. 

 John James. 

 Stephen Bacon. 

 William Spencer. 



Most of these men were nursery-gardeners, and all lived 



* Catalogus Plantarum. A catalogue of Trees, Shrubs, &c : for sale in 

 the Gardens near London, by a Society of Gardeners, 1730. The British 

 Museum copy is under Fairchild's name, 452, h. 2. 



