THE CHELSEA " PHYSIGKE GARDEN ' 



tree bearing Jesuits' bark which had done such wonders in agues. 

 What was very ingenious was the subterranean heat, conveyed 

 by a stove under the conservatory, all vaulted with brick, so that 

 he has the doors and windows open in the hardest frosts ; ex- 

 cluding only the snow." 



So far Mr. Watts appears to have done well, but six years 

 later we find him getting into disgrace, and 'the Vice-President 

 of the Society of Antiquaries as appears from an original 

 manuscript afterwards published in one of twelve volumes of 

 the " Archaeologia " says "the Chelsea Physick Garden has 

 great variety of plants both in and out of the greenhouses : the 

 perennial green hedges, and rows of different coloured herbs are 

 very pretty, and so are the banks set with shades of herbs in the 

 Irish stitch way ; but many plants in the garden were not in so 

 good order as might be expected ; after I had been there, I learned 

 that Mr. Watts, the keeper of it, was blamed for his neglect and 

 would be removed." 



Poor Mr. Watts whether dismissed or not, he sinned in intro- 

 ducing, in the seventeenth century, what reads very much like that 

 modern abomination, a ribbon border. 



Throughout its history the lessees of the garden seem to have 

 experienced difficulties in meeting the expenses of the upkeep, and 

 various plans were tried to enable them to do so. In 1697 the 

 lease had been extended, but soon after, the Society of Apothe- 

 caries, finding that in its corporate capacity it could not support 

 the cost of the garden, adopted the expedient of making certain 

 members voluntarily responsible for it ; this was in 1707, but six 

 years later the Trustees reported that, owing to the difficulty of 

 getting in subscriptions, they would be unable to continue its 

 maintenance beyond the present term of seven years. 



It is in 1714 that we find the first mention of Dr. Sloan, after- 

 wards Sir Hans Sloan, in connection with the garden. 



He was at this time Lord of the Manor of Chelsea, having pur- 

 chased it two years earlier from William, Lord Cheyne. 



Sir Hans Sloan was born in Ireland in 1660 of Scottish parentage. 

 A delicate youth, he came to London to study medicine and 

 the allied sciences, particularly chemistry and botany. At the 

 age of twenty-three he went to Paris to work under distinguished 

 professors, afterwards studying in the university of Montpellier, 



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