Mr. and Mrs. London, etc. 223 



was suggested by Lord Murray, to whom 

 Mrs. Loudon owns her weighty obligations. 



But the preface to the Ladies" Companion 

 has a concluding paragraph, which I fervently 

 wish that publishers and authors would alike 

 take to heart : 



" Notwithstanding the large sale of the work (which 

 has exceeded twenty-five thousand copies), it has now 

 been stereotyped ; but every new edition has been 

 carefully revised, and descriptions of new plants and 

 of new discoveries in floriculture have been added, so 

 as to bring the whole down completely to the present 

 day." 



Perhaps it was the refusal to perpetuate 

 errors and imperfect information which made 

 it necessary for the writer to seek a new 

 publisher, for the Ladies 1 Companion has not 

 the name of Mr. Murray at the foot of 

 the title-page. 



Mr. Bohn, in his edition of the Biblio- 

 grapher's Manual of Lowndes, furnishes an 

 elaborate list of the publications, from 1813 

 to 1854, of the late Sir William Jackson 

 Hooker, who, in his way, as the Loudons 

 in theirs, so largely contributed to the 



