THE CHELSEA " PHYSIGKE GARDEN " 



Apothecaries' Society, who himself told the story. He described 

 the appearance of Thomas Wheeler ; how he sat on the box beside 

 the driver in the best of spirits, his hat off, his thin, light hair 

 blowing about his face, and his large spectacles on his nose, alter- 

 nately laughing and chatting with the coachman, and diving into 

 his hat with his huge pocket-knife, to separate and examine a 

 bundle of wild plants. Such a figure naturally attracted attention 

 along the road, and, stopping at a turnpike gate, the party 

 was rather surprised by the evident interest and eagerness of the 

 toll-keeper, as he scratched his head, and, pointing to Mr. Wheeler, 

 exclaimed in his blunt Kentish dialect : '' So ye ha' got him at 

 last ! ' : This was incomprehensible to all until they arrived at 

 a small inn close to the parish of Barming, where they read a 

 placard offering a reward for an escaped lunatic. 



With the death of Thomas Wheeler a notable figure was removed 

 from the old Chelsea garden, and since that time popular concern 

 for its fortunes has not been stimulated, as in his day, by anecdotes 

 of its later professors and curators. 



Up to 1899 the Apothecaries still retained possession, and under 

 their control I imagine that the arrangement for the growing of 

 plants, described by Field and Simple in 1878, still obtained. Any- 

 one at that period entering the garden by the gate in Swan Lane, 

 and proceeding down the gravel walk facing it, till he reached the 

 point at which another path crosses it at right angles, a point marked 

 by the statue of Sir Hans Sloan, would have found the ground on 

 his right given up to the culture of medicinal herbs, and that 

 on his left hand, to hardy herbaceous plants arranged according 

 to their natural orders. 



At the present day a casual observer might suppose this place 

 still adhered to, but it is not so ; the plants, it is true, are still 

 arranged according to their natural orders, but no simples what- 

 ever are grown here now, for the garden is no longer under the 

 Apothecaries' management. It retains nevertheless something of 

 its unique character among the gardens of the metropolis ; even 

 without the four famous cedars that once upon a time must have 

 given it great distinction and although the Thames that formerly 

 washed its northern wall (and on the occasion of a very high 

 tide in 1774 rose fifteen inches within it) is now separated from 

 it by the width of the Embankment. The flower beds are 



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