Haroli 16, 1871. ] 



JOUBNAL Of HOETICULTDEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



197 



lad been made to induce her to become a Eoman Catholic. It 

 was known she doubted the legitimacy of her alleged half-brother. 

 Her husband, Prince George of Denmark, had fled from her 

 father, James II., and the latter was hastening to London 

 breathing vengeance against her favourites the Churchills. The 

 sentinels about her residence were doubled, so at the midnight 

 of a day in the November of 1688 she fled from the palace. She 

 went first to the Bishop, Mr. London's master, and on the 

 following morning left the metropolis for Epping Forest, and 

 went thence to Northampton and on to Nottingham. The 

 JBishop, says Maoaulay, wholly laid aside, for the time, his sacer- 

 dotal character. Danger and conflict had rekindled in him all 

 the military ardour which he had felt twenty-eight years before, 

 ■when he rode in the Life Guards. He preceded the Princess's 

 carriage in a buff coat and jackboots, with a sword at his side 

 and pistols in his holsters. It was particularly observed, says 

 Switzer, that Mr. London assisted on that occasion. The same 

 contemporary adds — 



" Mr. London and Mr. Wise being joint-partners, and tlina as it 

 were, both possess'd of the royal favour, and the purses of the King, 

 Queen, and nobility, left no stone nnturn'd to carry on their designs. 

 Soon after the peace of Eyswick [1607], Mr. London took another 

 journey into France with the Right Honourable the Earl of Portland, 

 who was sent by King William Ambassador-extraordinary on that 

 •occasion ; and then it was that he made those observations on the fruit 

 gardens at Versailles, which are publish'd in the preface to their 

 Abridgement. 



" After the death of the Queen [Mary], and not many years after 

 her, the King [William], their royal successor Queen Anne committed 

 the care of her gardens in chief to Mr. Wise, Mr. London stiU pursu- 

 ing his business in the country. It will perhaps he hardly believed, in 

 time to come, that this one person actually saw and gave directions, 

 once or twice a-year, in most of the noblemens and gentlemens gardens 

 in England. And since it was common for him to ride fifty or sisty 

 miles in a day, he made his northern circuit in five or six weeks, and 

 sometimes less ; and his western in as little time. As for the south 

 and east, they were but three or four days work for him ; most times 

 twice a-year visiting all the country seats, conversing with gentlemen, 

 and forwarding the business of gard'niug in such a degree as is almost 

 impossible to describe. In the mean time, his coUegue manag'd 

 matters nearer home with a dexterity and care equal to his character : 

 And in truth, they have deserv'd so much of the world, that 'tis but 

 common justice to transmit their memory unto ages to come. 



" But CO speak more particularly of the knowledge Mr. London was 

 suppos'd to be master of in this matter, the little opportunity he had 

 in laying a foundation of learning, was, without doubt, a great obstruc- 

 tion to his progress in vegetative philosophy, which is involv'd in so 

 many hard terms ; this, nevertheless, be overcame purely by industi-y ; 

 and what he wanted in one, he abounded with in the other. He was 

 perfectly well skUled in fruit, which seeta'd to be his master-piece ; As 

 for other parts, as greens, trees, flowers, exoticks, and the like, he 

 certainly had as much knowledge as any one man living : And tho' he 

 might not always come up to the highest pitch of design, yet that might 

 be attributed to the haste he was generally in ; and it can be no great 

 blemish to his character, that he was not the greatest person in every 

 thing, when 'tis surprizing to find he could possibly know so much ; so 

 great a surprize indeed, that we must hardly ever expect his equal, 

 much less any one that will exceed him. The planting and raising of 

 all sorts of trees, is so much due to his undertaking, that 'twill be hard 

 for any of posterity to lay their hands on a tree, in any of these king- 

 doms, that have not been a part of their care. 



" Mr. London, by his great fatigues in heat and cold, notwithstand- 

 ing naturally of a healthy, strong constitution, was at last seiz'd with 

 an illness which carry'd him off, after a few mouths languishing. He 

 has left a laudable example to all that shall have the encouragement 

 to enter, and the courage and strength to perform what he did. He died 

 towards Christmas, in the year 1713." 



In every instance that we have had to dwell over the career 

 of a praiseworthy public servant we have wished to penetrate 

 within the front door of hia residence, and to learn more of his 

 fireside doings ; we have been thus inquisitive about Mr. London, 

 but with small success. We have already noticed that his 

 services had been rewarded by a Court appointment, and we 

 found in the Fulham register that when buried on the 15th of 

 January, 1714, he was entitled " George London, Esq." The 

 introductory sentence of his will, dated December the 2nd of 

 the previous year, also designates him " of St. Martin'a-in-the- 

 Fields, Gentleman." He had, therefore, a residence near St. 

 James's Palace, rendered necessary, probably, by hia office of 

 page. It is described in his will as the " house where he then 

 dwelt, which, with the garden and appurtenances, were taken 

 out of the Woodworks near Spring Gardens." That house and 

 grounds cost Mr. London, according to particulars we have, 

 £267 14s. 8(2. He had to purchase the right of possession 

 from " Esqe. Povey," who was the previous grantee from the 

 Crown. At that time some part of the ground was farmed, 



and we can hardly realise that tor a purchase of ground in 

 Spring Gardens £5 " had to be paid for the Come upon ye 

 Land." The purchase was completed in the April of 1693, for 

 Mr. London's book-keeper then entered, " Paid at the reacon- 

 ing at the Crowne Taverne, at Charing Cross, at the meeting 

 about sealing the lease for the new house, 01 — 00—00." 



Mr. London directed that he should be buried in the parish 

 church of Fulham, " near the body of bis first dear wife Ee- 

 becca," adding the dictate of common sense, " the funeral ex- 

 penses not to exceed forty pounds." There, as he wished, his 

 body rests, and in the same grave with his second wife, Eliza- 

 beth, who died in 1732, and on the slab in the aisle is recorded 

 that she was " widow of Mr. George London, who is here in- 

 terred." 



He had acquired considerable property, for he had lands at 

 Kingston and Long Ditton, shares in the Welsh lead mines, 

 called St. Carbury, which he devised to his eldest son George. 

 Hia share in the Brompton Park Nursery he bequeathed in 

 trust for his youngest son John. He had three daughters, all 

 married to members of the upper ten thousand. Eatherine 

 was become Mrs. Elford ; Eebeoca, dead at the time of the will 

 being executed, had been Mrs. Woodward ; and Henrietta was 

 the wife of Sir John Peachey, and their second son was created 

 Earl Selsey. Henrietta, we can testify, was a skilful artist. 

 Her father bequeathed to her his "fine book of Surinam 

 plants in colours, to which are annexed her drawings of plants 

 in colours, pourtraying forty plants from the Cape of Good 

 Hope, and several fruita in colours, bound in rough leather, 

 they being all drawn by her." Some of her drawings we 

 have seen in the library at Badminton. There are many money 

 legacies to grandchildren and cousins, an annuity to his widow, 

 and the use of hia " silver tea-kettle stand " and other plate, 

 all testifying that he had won his way well up in the ranks of 

 society. 



To the poor of Fulham he left £5. Was it his birthplace ? 

 or was the gift born of that turning of the heart which all must 

 feel towards the place of their early happiness and prosperity ? 

 We know that at Fulham he was the long-trusted gardener of 

 Bishop Compton, that there he married his first wife, and that 

 the union was happy is told that there he wished to rest finally 

 by her side. 



Before we withdraw our pen from this subject, we must re- 

 cord the pleasure we derived from the depositary where we 

 found Mr. London's will. That depositary is Doctors' Com- 

 mons. Thither we resorted with no vagrant intent, but were 

 received with such courtesy by J. F. Coleman, Esq., one of the 

 keepers of the records, and he so genially led the way through 

 the marvellously well-arranged store halls, that we gladly di- 

 verged from the immediate object of our research. To pre- 

 serve the records from destruction by fire, no wood forms any 

 part of the building or its fittings — rafters, floorings, staircases, 

 shelves are all of iron or thick glass. The wills are chrono- 

 logically arranged — the months of each year being in labelled 

 packets, so that the date being known, any will is promptly 

 found, and of the wills of modern date even an alphabetical 

 index to the testators' names is printed. 



Our kindly guide placed before us the will of " William 

 Shakespere " — for that is his own spelling of his very legible 

 autograph. The will is on three sheets of writing paper, each 

 sheet between two panes of glass, and framed, to preserve them 

 from the fingers of the thoughtless " Man of Feeling." Then 

 we looked upon the will of William Pitt, short and unconnected, 

 evidence that though a worthy foeman of Fox in debate, he 

 was not his equal in literary composition. Nest was shown 

 the will of "Nelson and Bronte," written in large characters 

 with the left hand, as shown by their leaning inversely, written, 

 too, in a small book red-leather-covered, such as tradesmen 

 send to customers detailing the week's account. Lastly, we 

 saw the will of " Wellington," unmistakeable both in its cali- 

 graphy and straightforwardneas. Of the earliest wills there 

 are very many volumes of copies on parchment, some brilliantly 

 illuminated, and others, especially one dated 1581, the most 

 beautiful — perfectly uniformly beautiful — examples of penman- 

 ship we ever perused. 



Nor were the concluding minutes of our visit the least grati- 

 fying, for our tender of thanks was met by the response, " No, 

 I'm in your debt, for yon have led me to, and instructed me in, 

 gardening." 



Potatoes in Gkeat Beitain and Ireland. — The number of 

 acres in Great Britain planted in 1869 were 585,211, and in 1870 



