Nurseries and Grounds at Brompton. 171 



Lysons, writing in 1795, says that the 

 nursery at Brompton Park, established by 

 Messrs. London and Wise, gardeners to 

 William III. and Queen Anne, dated from 

 about the latter end of the seventeenth 

 century. And Evelyn records in his Diary 

 his visit to it with his friend Mr. Waller 

 (not the poet) in 1694. He was there 

 again in 1701. " 2nd of September. I went 

 to Kensington, and saw the lawn, planta- 

 tions, and gardens, the work of Mr. Wise, 

 who was there to receive me." The grounds 

 lay between Brompton and Kensington ; 

 from Evelyn mentioning only Wise, it 

 is presumable that he had lost his part- 

 ner, Mr. London. The stock of plants 

 here in 1700 is represented by a contem- 

 porary as so large that they would have 

 been worth ^40,000 at a penny a-piece. 

 This place belonged, when Lysons wrote, 

 to Messrs. Gray and Wear, and the Grays 

 were still there in 1840. The present 

 writer recollects their grounds, as well as 

 several others. 



George London seems to have quitted the 



