196 



JODBNAL OF HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



t llaroh 16, 1871. 



tendency to adopt French teachers were published the volumes 

 having as authors Eose, London, Wise, Meager, Coot, and 

 Ss'itzer, all practical gardeners, but of them all London went 

 to the front, for he not only told what should be done in Eng- 

 lish gardening, and provided the stores for doing it, but traversed 

 all England to see that it was done judiciously. We will detail 

 cur grounds for this conclusion. 



S^itzer, in his "History of Gardening" in Qaeen Anne's 

 time, observes, " To set down that history in its several par- 

 ticulars in this reign would require a volume, but will be for 

 the most part summed up in the person and character of 

 George London, Esq., Superintendent of the Koyal Gardens, 

 and Director-General of most of the Gardens and Plantations 

 of Great Britain." No one need refer to a Biographical Dic- 

 tionary for further information relative to George London — not 

 one even names him, yet so often have we found him taking a 

 prominent part in the public transactions of the period that we 

 resolved to arrange the fragments we had collected into the 

 best life's notice we could. 



Of GeorgeLondon's parentage or birth-place we know nothing, 

 but it may be presumed that he was not from elevated ances- 

 tors, since Sivitzer, who had been his pupil, merely observes, 

 " I am not well enough informed, neither is it material, that I 

 should go back to his birth and education." The latter was cer- 

 tainly limited, and Switzer speaks of "the little opportunity 

 Mr. London had in laying a foundation of learning — this he 

 overcame purely by industry — what he wanted in one he 

 abounded with in the other." 



London was an assistant to Mr. John Eose, who was gardener 

 to Charles II. " at the Eoyal Garden in St. James's Park," and 

 who ought to be remembered for " the encouragement he gave 

 to Mr. London, who made afterwards the greatest figure ever 

 gardener did." Mr. Eose, at the end of four or five years, sent 

 him to France to observe how gardening was there conducted 

 under its great practitioner, M. Qaintinye ; yet he went to learn 

 what to avoid, as well as what to adopt, as is shown in the 

 editions of Qaintinye's works he aided in publishing. 



Soon after London's return from France, he was preferred to 

 the head-gardenership of Dr. Compton, Bishop of London, at 

 Falham Palace, " one of the first that encouraged the im- 

 portation, raising, and increase of exotics. He had above one 

 thousand species in his stoves and gardens, in which last he 

 had endenisoned many previously thought too tender for this 

 cold cUmate." 



" Probably assisted in his great design " by Dr. Compton, 

 London, with three coadjutors, founded 



" That nursery and fnnd of gard'niiig and plants, with which the 

 nation was afterwards stock'd, I mean Brampton Park, wliich, from 

 the ingenions Mr. Evelyn, we may place above the greatest works of 

 that kind ever seen or heard of either in books or travels. 



" This vast design was began some years before the revolution, by 

 four of the head gardeners of England, Mr. London, gardener to the 

 aforesaid Bishop of London ; Mr. Cook, gardener to the Earl of Esses 

 at Cashiobury ; Mr. Lucre, garden to Queen Dowager at Somerset 

 House ; and Mr. Field, gardener to the Earl of Bedford, at the then 

 Bedford House in the Strand, and appear'd to all that heard of it a 

 work worthy of the greatest encouragement. 



*' One of their first undertakings was at tbe Eight Honourable the 

 Lord Viscount Weymouth's, at Long-Leat in Wiltshire, where these 

 four partners abode every one his month, and in the intervals attended 

 their own business ; of which the new nursery before-named was not 

 the least ; but some time after Mr. Lucre and Mr. Field dying, and 

 Mr. Cook selling bis share, it was divided into two shares only, under 

 Mr. London and Mr. Wise, who were the persons that have since 

 earned it to its highest pitch, which, some years ago, was, by a person 

 of judgment [Bowaokj, and no great friend to that undertaking, valu'd 

 at between 30 and £40,000 (perhaps as much as all the nurseries of 

 France put together.") 



At that time Evelyn described it as " the greatest work of that 

 kind ever seen or heard of." We can trace the changes oc- 

 curring in the partnership by referring to the parish registers. 

 There we find that in 1681, it was occupied by Lukars & Co. ; in 

 1686, by Cook & Co. ; in 1689, by Wise alone ; and in 1694, by 

 London & Wise, but they had been in partnership three years 

 before, for we have their first account book, containing their 

 signatures to each quarter's receipts and payments. The first 

 is, " The first quarter, from December ye 28th, 1690, to March 

 ye 29ih, 1691." 



On the pages of one of the account books of that nursery are 

 entries as far back as 1671, when Mr. London must have been 

 in the Bishop of London's service, as he frequently mentions 

 " my master," occur the names of many gardeners familiar to 

 those acquainted with horticultural literature. Thus there is 



this entry — "At Guilford, Mr. Meager, 9 dayes worke, and 

 7 dayes worke at ye Parke, 01—05—10." This was Leonard 

 Meager, author of " The English Gardener," and other works 

 that passed through many editions. 



Leonard Meager worked at the Brompton Park Nursery daring 

 1691 and 1692, at 9.s. a-week. This was the highest wages they 

 paid. His name appears as employed by Mr. London at Mr. 

 Van Spreeks, and at Brompton seemingly when out of place, 

 in 1693. Many curious bits of information can be gleaned from 

 the same account books. We see in them that per-centages 

 to gardeners are no modern introduction. 



There are many such entries as this — " Gave at the receiving 

 Ld. BuUinge Brooks bill, 00—11—06." Wholesale prices are 

 also recorded (1691). Thus 



Pd. llr. Hurst for 2O0O of Tews 20—03—00 



For 250 Matts C5— 14— 00 



For 4000 Home beames 01—04—04 



ffor 20 plumbs 00— (8— 06 



Payd ffor 1 pott of double Virgin's Bower 00 — 02—06 



for 4f of Artichoek plants 00—12—00 



ffor 1 pecke Sandwicke peas 00—01 — 06 



payd ffor 33 Orange trees 31— 10— Oil 



There were nurseries and market gardens previously, but 

 they were either very small, or their stock was only the com- 

 monest of trees, plants, and culinary vegetables. Nor was that 

 the worst of their deficiencies, for the owners were very ignorant 

 of their correct names, and often sold the same variety under 

 diiJerent titles. Evelyn gives this example — :: 



" In Pears alone, a gentleman in the country sends to the nurseries 

 for the Liver Blanch, Piguigny de chouille, Kattau blanc, &c., the 

 ' English St. Gilbert, Cranboum Pears (and several other names) when 

 all this while, they are no other than the well known Cadillac." 



London did much to correct this, and through the Bishop of 

 London and the connections he secured during his own visits 

 to the Continent, he enriched the stock of Brompton Park 

 with a far greater variety of exotics than had previously been 

 purchaseable. It gave birth to other similar nurseries, and his 

 old masters being dead, Leonard Meager recommends purchasers 

 of trees and plants to apply to his 'very loving friend Captain 

 Garrle, dwelling at the great nursery between Spittle fields and 

 White Chappel, a very eminent and ingenious Nursery-man." 



The Brompton Park Nursery continued to exist in its in- 

 tegrity till the year 1852, when the lease expired, and the 

 ground, with some adj lining lands, was sold to the Eoyal Com- 

 missioners of the Exhibition of 1851. Some idea may be 

 formed of the situition when we mention that what is now 

 called Exhibition Eoad, South Kensington, was the principal 

 central walk of the nursery : and the space now occupied by 

 Prince's Gardens, part of South Kensington Museum, the 

 whole of the Eoyal Horticultural Society's Garden, and Prince 

 of Wales Eoad, formed a portion of the Brompton Park Nursery. 



Many circumstances combined to enable London to take the 

 leadership in gardening. The Bishop of London, Evelyn, and 

 Sir W. Temple, all appreciated his skill, could aid him in ob- 

 taining exotics, and recommended him to wealthy employers. 

 Let one instance of many suflice. Henry Earl of Clarendon, 

 writing to Evelyn in 1686, thanks him " for speaking to Mr. 

 London to go to Swallowfield." This was the Earl's estate near 

 Eeading, the gardens of which had been much neglected. 



Sir Christopher Wren also employed London relative to the 

 gardens to be formed about mansions of which he was the 

 architect. Evelyn employed them both, as he thus teUs — 

 " June 9, 1698. I went to Deptford to see how miserably the 

 Czar (Peter of Eussia) had left my house after three months 

 making it his court. I got Sir C. Wren, the King's Surveyor, 

 and Mr. London, his gardener, to go and estimate the repairs, 

 for which they allowed £130 in their report to the Lords of 

 the Treasury." The ravages in the garden may be estimated 

 from the fact that one of the amusements of the Czar was to 

 sit in a wheelbarrow whilst one of his court drove it through 

 the high Box-edgings. 



Immediately that William and Mary were established on the 

 throne, Mr. London was appointed Superintendent of all the 

 Eoyal Gardens with an annual salary of £200 ; and to this 

 appointment was added that of page of the back-stairs to the 

 Queen, and when Anne succeeded to the throne he was con- 

 tinued in his offices. It is not difficult to discern that other 

 circumstances sustained him in preferment in addition to his 

 great merits as a skilled horticulturist. We have already stated 

 that he was the Bishop of London's head gardener, and the 

 Bishop knowing him to be a sincere Protestant, and discerning, 

 as did Mr. Eose, his promptitude and vigour, selected him as a 

 coadjutor in securing the safety of Princess Anne. Attempts 



