INTRODUCTION xxxvii 



1612; rector of Rostock University), taught philosophy at 

 Montauban, composed the Treatise " De Horti Cultura " 

 alluded to by Sir T. Browne, and died in 1639. 



or the following more " fleshy " anecdote about old 

 Jacob Bobart, from " Historical and Biographical 

 Sketches of the Progress of Botany," by Richard 

 Pulteney, M.D., F.R.S. (Lond., 1790) : 



I cannot ascertain the time of Bobart's death ; but from 

 the story related of him by Dr. Grey, in his edition of 

 ' Hudibras," Part I., Canto II., 1. 314, he must have been 

 living in 1704. 1 He had transformed a dead rat into the 

 feigned figure of a dragon, which imposed upon the learned 

 so far, that several fine copies of verses were wrote on " so 

 rare a subject." Bobart afterwards owned the cheat; but 

 it was preserved for some years, as a masterpiece of art. 

 There is a print of the elder Bobart, with a distich, dated 

 1675, by Burghers, which confirms his German origin ; 

 but it is very scarce. 



1 He appears to have lived considerably longer, for Dr. 

 Abel Evans dedicated " Vertumnus," a poetical epistle, to 

 him in 171 3 which contains much historical information. 

 Bobart had formed an Hortus Siccus in twenty volumes. He 

 is several times mentioned in these letters of Consul Sherard 

 to Dr. Richardson, that in March I7i9the Vice-Chancellor 

 (Dr. Shipper) had compelled Bobart to resign the office of 

 Professor, and also records his death, which happened in a 

 very advanced age, a few months after. He was buried 

 Dec. 30, 1 719. A descendant of this family, Tillemant 

 Bobart, is still well known to all who wish for civil treat- 

 ment and a safe carriage on the road to Oxford. " Nichols's 

 Illustrations of Literary History," Vol. I., pp. 342, 357, 361. 

 (MS. Note by Win. Forsyth in B. M. copy.) 



