2 HISTORICAL NOTICES. CHAP. 



flower Tradescantia, which he brought from Virginia. He died in 

 1662, having presented his collections, by deed of gift in 1659, 

 to Elias Ash mole, who, among his various studies, had included 

 Botany, and had made the acquaintance of 



' Both gardeners to the Rose and Lily Queen c .' 



Elias A.shmole, born at Lichfield in 1617, led a varied and busy 

 life, in which only one strong line can be traced, marking his 

 knowledge of and attachment to heraldry. The additions which he 

 made to the old collection consisted mainly of coins, medals, and 

 metallic works of art, besides valuable manuscripts and books of 

 heraldry and astrology, which once belonged to Lilly. 



Ashmole was much in Oxford during the disastrous civil wars 

 (acting as a gentleman in the Ordnance, and officiating as a clergy- 

 man during the siege), and afterwards co-operating with the philo- 

 sophical party of Oxonians, with Wilkins at their head, who 

 heralded the Royal Society. In 1669, Ashmole was complimented 

 with a degree, and some years after announced his intention of 

 presenting his collections to the University. In 1679, the edifice 

 was begun which for almost two centuries was destined to hold 

 this historical collection, and was finished in 1683. The design 

 has been attributed to Sir Christopher Wren ; but there is no 

 authority for this. On a contemporary engraving, representing 

 the Museum, by M. Burghers, Mr. T. Wood is named as the 

 architect. 



From the day when these unique collections came into the hands 

 of the University, a strong tendency was manifested to make them 

 contribute to the * new philosophy/ as it was termed, which had 

 been inaugurated by the Royal Society. Plot, the first keeper of 

 the Museum, appointed in 1683, the year of the completion of the 

 building, gave, as is well known, diligent, if not successful, atten- 

 tion to the ' formed stones' and other natural curiosities of Oxford- 

 shire. His Natural History of this County, a model for many 

 subsequent works, was not, indeed, confined to the subjects truly 

 embraced by the title ; for it contains good information on Roman 

 and other antiquities, and something more than a smattering of 

 what is now called Physics. 



c So the Tradescants are styled on their monument in Lambeth Churchyard. 



