THE FREEHOLD GRANTED 43 



should be taxed ; every " master on binding an 

 apprentice " ; every " apprentice at the time of 

 binding " ; everyone dining at a " herbarizing " 

 dinner ; and an extra fine was imposed on 

 those who refused to take office. All these 

 excess profits were to be spent on the Garden. 

 The Company, too, did well in getting rid of 

 some South Sea stock " with advantage " 

 before the bubble burst. 



Then came the great event in the history of 

 the Garden. 



Sir Hans Sloane was now their landlord. 

 He had purchased the Manor of Chelsea ten 

 years before, 1 and although he was living and 

 practising as a physician in the fashionable 

 district of Bloomsbury, he must have enjoyed 

 the short drive to his country estate, and a walk 

 round the Physic Garden. Petiver, the late 

 Demonstrator of plants, had been his friend, 

 and at Petiver 's funeral, in 1718, Sloane had 

 been a pall-bearer. 



So the Apothecaries laid their troubles before 

 him ; and just 200 years ago in February, 

 1722 a deed was signed by which, for a 

 yearly payment of 5, Sir Hans Sloane con- 

 veyed the Physic Garden with its greenhouse, 

 stoves, and barge-houses to the Apothecaries' 

 Society to hold the same for ever and so 

 " enable the Society to support the charge 

 thereof, for the manifestation of the power, 

 wisdom and glory of God in the works of 

 Creation " ; and show how " useful plants " may 

 be distinguished from" those that are hurtful." 



1 From the second Lord Cheyne, who had left Chelsea to 

 become Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire. 



