GARDENS OF CELEBRITIES 



of that day, made a catalogue of the rare plants at Fulham when 

 the gardens were at the height of their fame and interest. In his 

 list are the " Norway Maple," the " Ash Maple," the " Virginian 

 Flowering Maple," the " Strawberry Tree," the " Male Cypress," 

 the " Female Cypress," the " Manna Ash," the " Black Walnut 

 Tree," the " Red Horse Chestnut," the manured or " Stone Pine," 

 the " Virginian Sumach," the " Honey Locust," the " Cork Tree," 

 the " Evergreen Oak," and the " Cedar of Lebanon " introduced 

 into England by Evelyn in 1664. " Trees of Curiosity " was the 

 name given to those brought from abroad, and 131 new specimens 

 came to this country in the seventeenth century. 



The botanists who followed Mr. Ray, wrote of precious additions 

 to the gardens after his day, and the eighteenth century claims the 

 credit of the introduction of 445 new trees and plants. It was 

 Bishop Porteous, the founder of Sunday Schools, who planted the 

 cedars at Fulham. 



Faulkner also states that in the year 1751 ' the late Sir 

 William Watson " who was probably the physician of that 

 name who died in 1787 made a survey of the now celebrated 

 gardens. He had previously given the Royal Society an account 

 of all that remained of the renowned garden of the Tradescents 

 at Lambeth, and he now offered them one of that " still more 

 famous Botanick Garden at Fulham." He winds up his report 

 with a eulogy on Henry Compton, formerly Bishop of London 

 " that excellent prelate, who, by means of a large correspondence 

 with the principal botanists of Europe and America, introduced 

 into England a greater number of plants, more especially trees 

 which had never been seen here, or before described by any author 

 therefore his name is mentioned with the greatest encomiums by 

 the botanical writers of the times to wit, Herman, Ray, and 

 others." 



This being so, it is melancholy to reflect that, through the culpable 

 indifference of Bishop Robinson, whose duty and privilege it 

 should have been to guard the treasures to which he had succeeded, 

 many of the rarer trees and shrubs in the garden, the more tender 

 exotics, and all the greenhouse plants, had been removed to make 

 way for the more ordinary produce of the kitchen-garden. It is 

 some consolation, however, to know that very much still remains 

 at Fulham that is well worth seeing. The storms of three 



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