164 A HISTORY OF GARDEXIXG IN ENGLAND. 



mistakes in the Latin in the Herbal, while it was going through 

 the press. L'Obel himself was the author of a work on plants, 

 Stirpium Adversaria (1570). In this he was assisted by Peter 

 Pena, whose acquaintance he had made while studying at 

 Montpelier. Mathias de Lobel, or L'Obel, was born at Lille, m 

 1538, and travelled about Europe, and practised medicine both in 

 Antwerp and Delft, before he came to England. For many 

 years he took charge of the garden belonging to Lord Zouche 

 in Hackney, and was made "Botanist to the King" (James L). 

 The familiar " lobelia " was so named in his honour, by 

 Plumier. The first rudiments of a scientific classification are 

 to be found in his works ; which are therefore considered superior 

 to those of Dodoens, who never attempted anything of the kind. 

 He had studied Mattioli, and frequently refers to him, but his 

 work, although esteemed by the learned, being in Latin and 

 never translated, could not become popular, as did the work 

 of his contemporary, Gerard, which was written in English. 

 Gerard's Herbal has alwa3s maintained a conspicuous position 

 in the literature of flowers, and the second issue, so ably edited 

 by Thomas Johnson, tended greatly to increase the popularity 

 and the value of the work. 



John Gerard, or Gerarde, was born in 1545, at Nantwich, in 

 Cheshire, and died in 1607. ^^ ^^'^^ not only a physician, and 

 learned " in simples," but also a practical gardener, and cultivated 

 a physic-garden of his own at Holborn, then a suburb of London, 

 where he lived. The first work he published was a catalogue 

 of the plants in his garden,* which contained nearly eleven 

 hundred kinds, both native and foreign. For twenty years 

 he superintended the gardens of Lord Burghley, and dedicated 

 his great work to this patron. Although the Herbal cannot lay 

 claim to originality, yet Gerard, translator and adapter as he 

 was, has left an indelible mark of individuality on his work. 

 His notes on the localities of flowers are specially characteristic, 

 as also the way in which he mentions his friends from whom 

 he received presents of plants, or information about them. 



* There is a unique copy of this work in the British Museum, reprinted and 

 edited by D. Jackson. 



