August 18, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



125 



was not accomplished till the year 1669 ; owing partly to the unhappy 

 state into which the country had fallen in those times, and partly 

 owing to the insufficiency of the funds arising from the estate in York- 

 shire. But in this year Dr. Robert Monson received from the Univer- 

 sity his appointment to the chair. 



Morison was a Scotchman, born at Aberdeen in 1638. In that town 

 also he received an education which it was intended should fit him for 

 the Church. But finding the study of theology less in accordance with 

 his tastes than that of physic, he fitted himself for that profession 

 instead ; and his reputation rose with such rapidity among the learned, 

 that, before he was thirty years old, he was chosen by Charles II. as 

 ting's physician. 



In his younger days he had espoused the Royal cause, and fought in 

 the battle at Brigg, near Aberdeen, where he was dangerously wounded 

 in the head. In consequence of this display of his loyalty he was 

 compelled to fly from his native country and take refuge in France. 

 While there he was brought under the notice of the Duke of Orleans, 

 who, quickly perceiving his merit, appointed him superintendent of 

 his gardens at Blois, and furnished him with the means of travel- 

 ling through France, in order that he might collect plants and in- 

 formation. 



During his stay in France he published a new edition of the " Hortus 

 Bloisensis," in which he sets forth his new method of classification. 

 From this work he gained niuoh honour among the scientific men of 

 the day ; and it established his character as an original writer and 

 thinker. On the restoration of Charles II. he returned to England, 

 though earnestly solicited to remain where he was. 



On his appointment to the professorship at Oxford he commenced a 

 course of lectures, consisting of three every week during the summer 

 and autumn terms. From this time to his death he occupied himself 

 chiefly with the preparation of his " Historia Plantarnm Oxoniensium." 

 Of this work, however, he lived only to complete a portion, his life 

 being cut short by an accident that happened to him while crossing a 

 street in London. He died in the year 1683, and lies buried in the 

 church of St. Martiu's-in-the-Fields, Westminster. 



After Morison's death Jacob Bobart, son of the first curator, was 

 appointed professor in his place. He finished the second volume of 

 Morison's " Historia Plantarum," and in the preface of this book he 

 gives an interesting account of all the botanical authors, both English 

 and foreign, who had flourished up to that time. He appears to have 

 been a man of some humour, for Dr. Gray, in his edition of " Hudibras," 

 relates the following amusing story concerning him. He says : — " Mr. 

 Smith, of Bedford, observes to me upon the word ' Dragon ' as follows : — 

 Mr. Jacob Bobart, Botany Professor of Oxford, did, about forty years 

 ago, find a dead rat in the physic garden, which he made to resemble 

 the common pictures of dragons, by altering its head and tail, and 

 thrusting in taper sharp sticks, which distended the skin on each side 

 till it mimicked wings. He let it dry as hard as possible. The learned 

 immediately pronounced it a dragon : and one of them sent an accurate 

 description of it to Dr. Malibechi, librarian to the Grand Duke of 

 Tascany. Several fine copies of verses were wrote on so rare a subject. 

 But at last Mr. Bobart owned the cheat. However, it was looked upon 

 as a masterpiece of art, and as such deposited in the museum, or 

 anatomy school, where I saw it some years after." 



Whether the Ashmolean Museum or Dr. Rolleston still possesses 

 this variety I cannot say; but if not, I can, unfortunately, produce 

 abundance of material from the same place, for any who may again be 

 inclined to exercise their ingenuity. Bobart died in 1719, being 79 

 years old. 



The next botanist of whom I have to speak is Dr. William Sherard, 

 or Sherwood. This indefatigable worker and liberal patron was born 

 at BuBhby, in Leicester shire, in 1659. From the Merchant Taylors' 

 School, where he laid the foundation of his knowledge, he matriculated 

 at St. John's College ; and in his twenty-fifth year was elected Fellow 

 of the same Society. Leaving Oxford, he travelled as tutor to Lord 

 Townsend, on the Continent, and there made such excellent collections 

 as won for him the esteem and friendship of Ray. The encomiums 

 passed upon him by this immortal naturalist served to increase his 

 ardour, and we find him next making tours throughout England and 

 the Channel Islands in search of new and rare plants, which were com- 

 municated to Ray for insertion in his " Synopsis Plantarum." About 

 the year 1702 he was appointed consul at Smyrna, and the opportunity 

 being thns offered him of collecting Eastern plants, he set himself with 

 wonderful diligence to obtain all that were to be had from Natolia and 

 Greece. These collections were the beginning of that magnificent 

 Herbarium, which, with his Pinax, made his name to stand so high 

 amongst botanists. After residing in Asia fifteen or sixteen years, he 

 returned to England in 1718, when the University, in consideration of 

 his learning, conferred npon him the degree of Doctor of Law. 



Remaining in England a few years, he again visited the Continent, 

 travelling through Holland, France, and Italy, renewing personal 

 intercourse with his older friends, and making the acquaintance of 

 those with whom he had before only corresponded. Amongst these 

 latter stood Dillenius, for whom he soon learned to entertain so high a 

 regard that he persuaded him to come over and cast in his lot with him 

 in England. Here he directed his studies, urging him in particular to 

 turn his attention to the cryptogamic portion of the vegetable kingdom 

 — a class of plants that had as yet been greatly neglected, and, in con- 

 sequence, hut little understood. Although possessor of ample means 

 that had been accumulated by him daring his residence in Smyrna, 



Sherard lived with the greatest unostentation in London, devoting his 

 whole time to the stndy and arrangement of his collections and. the 

 advancement of his Pinax. Shortly before he died he gave £500 to 

 the Botanic Garden, for the enlargement of the conservatory, and other- 

 wise testified to his zeal for botanical science, as well as to the love he 

 bore for his " alma mater " by presenting to the gardens a great number 

 of new and rare plants, and by endowing them with his unrivalled col- 

 lections of dried specimens, and with his library of botanical works, 

 perfect for the time in which he lived. 



On his death, in 1728, he left by will £300 to provide for a professor, 

 stipulating that the University should add annually to that sum £150 

 for the maintenance of the garlen and library, and that Dillenius, his 

 friend, should be elected to the chair. The bargain was accepted by 

 the University, and John Jacob Dillenius was elected professor. He 

 was a native of Darmstadt, and was born in the year of our Lord 1687. 

 He received his education at the University of Giessen, and practised 

 in that city as physician, occupying himself also with the study of 

 botany, and publishing the results of his observations in the "Miscellanea 

 Curiosa " or the papers of the " Academia Curiosorum Germanise," a 

 Society into which he was elected at a very early age. But the work 

 that contributed mainly to bring him into notice was his "Catalogue 

 of Plants growing in the neighbourhood of Giessen," published in the 

 year 1719, and it was probably owing to this work that Sherard was 

 led to form so high an opinion of him, and to desire so earnestly to gain 

 his permanent assistance. 



Of the manner in which Dillenius was persuaded by Sherard to leave 

 his native land, and return with him to England in 1721, I have 

 already spoken. His effort, after settling down in his adopted country, 

 was a new edition of Ray's " Synopsis Stirpium Britanicarum," with 

 some improvements of his own. During the life of Sherard he lived 

 chiefly with him in London, or with his brother James Sherard, who 

 had an estate at Eltham in Kent, and who took such pleasure in botany 

 and horticulture, that his garden was said to be the richest of the time 

 in England. While staying in this congenial place, Dillenius projected 

 an illustrated description of all such plants as were new or rare grow- 

 ing in this garden, a work he afterwards published under the title of 

 "Hortus Elthamensis." In this work he describes and figures with 

 wonderful accuracy and faithfulness 417 plants, and quoteB the 

 synonyms of other authors. 



In 1728 his friend and benefactor died, and he removed to Oxford, 

 where he was chosen Professor of Botany in the University, according 

 to the agreement made by Sherard. His first desire and highest 

 ambition was thus realised. In 1736 Dillenius was visited by Linnaeus, 

 who was then a young man, and had been sent over by Clifford to 

 collect plants for his garden in Holland. Dillenius, who had thoroughly 

 imbibed the doctrines inculcated by Ray, had naturally no love for one 

 who was, as he supposed, endeavouring to upset his system, by intro- 

 ducing a new one of his own. Consequently, it was with no very friendly 

 feeling that he first made his acquaintance. But how long this un- 

 friendliness lasted may be best inferred from the following passage, 

 which I will quote from the " Diary of Linnaeus." He says : — " In 

 1736 Linnaeus went over to England at the expense of M. Clifford ; 

 and here he saw not only the gardens at Chelsea and Oxford, but also 

 procured many of the rarest and nondescript plants sent thither. He 

 likewise became acquainted with all the learned at that time in the 

 kingdom. At Oxford, LinnaBUS was received in a friendly manner by 

 Dr. Shaw, who had travelled in Barbary, and who declared himself a 

 disciple of Linnaeus, having read his system with great pleasure. The 

 learned botanist, Dillenius, was at first haughty, conceiving Linneeus' 

 * Genera ' (which he got half printed in Holland), to be written against 

 himself. But he afterwards entertained him a month, without leaving 

 Linmeus an hour to himself the whole day long ; and at last took 

 leave of him with tears in his eyes, after having given him the choice 

 of living with him till his death, aB the salary of the professorship was 

 sufficient for them both." 



Can anything be more touching than this description of the change 

 of sentiment that Dillenius manifested towards the young man he had 

 at first looked upon as an innovator, and one personally hostile to him- 

 self ? But although the feelings of suspicion and dislike were so com- 

 pletely obliterated that others of admiration and affection took their 

 place, still Dillenius never adopted Linnaeus' views, but remained con- 

 stant to the system of Ray. 



There is another version of this story current, that makes Linnaeus 

 appear in company with Sherard. According to this account, Sherard 

 received him with affability, Dillenius with coldness, the latter re- 

 marking in English to Sherard, " This is the young fellow who is 

 putting all botanists and all botany into confusion." Linnaeus, for a 

 time, took no notice of this unmannerly remark, the meaning of 

 which he gathered from the way Dillenius pronounced the word " con- 

 fusion ;" but after he had explained away some difficulties respecting 

 the " Linaria Cymbalaria," which neither Sherard nor Dillenius had 

 been able to do, he revenged himself by saying quietly, he hoped he 

 had not brought "confusion" into the Botanic Gardens at Oxford. 

 Dillenius blushed, and apologised for his expression. 



There is no reason for disbelieving the correctness of this story, 

 only we must substitute the name of Dr. Shaw for that of Sherard, 

 for Linnaeus did not visit England till 1736, eight years after Sherard's 

 death. 



All this while Dillenius had been collecting material, and investi- 

 gating the class Cryptogamia, making considerable, excursions into 



