184 FOTHERGILL'S BOTANIC GARDEN CHAP. 



that could never afford gratification to him which entailed 

 misery on another," and he even made a present, it is 

 said, of the purchase money to the family. 1 



In 1762 he bought an estate at Upton in Essex, con- 

 taining at first thirty acres, but afterwards enlarged. 2 

 Here he planted a flower garden, surrounded by shrub- 

 beries and a wilderness of trees. A piece of water 

 wound its way through the midst, its banks lined with 

 exotic shrubs. Evergreens gave the aspect of spring 

 even in mid-winter. A greenhouse and hothouses, then 

 less common than now, opened by a glass door from one 

 of the villa sitting-rooms, and extended for about 260 feet. 

 Here oranges and myrtles blossomed freely, amid some 

 3400 species of plants brought from warm countries. 

 Nearly as many more species flourished on the open 

 ground, whilst the forest trees of North America and 

 China, rare oaks, firs and maples, throve in the adjoining 

 plantations. "At an expense seldom undertaken by an 

 individual," writes Sir Joseph Banks, " and with an 

 ardour that was visible in the whole of his conduct, he 

 procured from all parts of the world a great number of 

 the rarest plants, and protected them in the amplest 

 buildings which this or any other country has seen." 

 Fothergill's collection was " equalled by nothing but 

 royal munificence, bestowed upon the botanic gardens at 

 Kew. In my opinion no other garden in Europe, royal 

 or of a subject, had nearly so many scarce and valuable 

 plants." 3 



In order to enrich his garden Fothergill entered into 

 correspondence with persons in far countries, and enlisted 

 the aid of sea-captains and travellers. He thus obtained 

 large quantities of plants and seeds from China, Hindustan 



1 Works, iii. p. xxxvi. Vicq d'Azyr in his Eloge of Fothergill romances a 

 little upon this incident : " Mes voeux sont a leur comble, s'ecrie-t-il, au 

 lieu de vegetaux que j'aurais plantes, ce sont des homines que je nourris." 

 Fothergill had a garden later in the vicinity. 



a The house was possessed by the Rooke family from 1566, and thence 

 called Rooke Hall ; passing in 1666 to Sir Robert Smyth, and after nearly 

 a century to Admiral Elliot, from whom Fothergill purchased it. 



3 Sir Joseph Banks, in G. Thompson, Memoirs of Fothergill, p. 37. A view 

 of the house and ornamental grounds is contained in Quaker Biographies, 

 Phila., iv. 55. 



