404 MORE POT-POURRI 



Botanic Gardens at Oxford are the oldest of the kind 

 in England. The land at Chelsea was acquired by the 

 Apothecaries as far back as 1674. Evelyn visited the 

 Chelsea Gardens in 1685, and mentions that he saw 

 there a Tulip tree and a Tea shrub. Here, too, it has 

 been said, one of the first attempts was made to sup- 

 ply plants with artifleial heat, the greenhouse having 

 been heated by means of embers placed in a hole in 

 the ground. Poor plants ! they must have been rather 

 smoke-dried, I fear. It was here, too, that Philip 

 Miller, the 'prince of gardeners' — so styled by Lin- 

 naeus — spent nearly fifty years. He managed the 

 gardens from 1722 to 1771, during which period they 

 attained a great reputation throughout Europe. Miller 

 was the author of the much -admired 'Gardener's 

 Chronicle.' 



August 14th. — Towns are never so pleasant as when 

 out of season. Florence in June, and London in Au- 

 gust, how immensely emptiness increases their charm ! 



Flat -hunting in London is more bewildering and dif- 

 ficult even than house -hunting, so I was indeed lucky to 

 find one with perfect views, very high up, with a lift, 

 and just what I wanted in every way. I always have 

 thought the garret was the nicest part of a London 

 house. It has the best air and generally some sort of 

 view. A high fiat has all these advantages, and the lift 

 does away with the fatigue of the stairs. A French 

 landlady once said, when we had panted up her five 

 stories to her airy apartment and complained a little of 

 the pull up: ' Le cinquifeme n'est au cinquifeme que pour 

 les monstres de la rue. C'est au premier pour les 

 Anges ! ' One does feel nearer the sky, and the gulls 

 fiy by the windows in stormy weather. The cloud 

 effects can be endlessly studied, and often smoke rather 

 ad4s to than detracts froip the beauty of sunsets, as JVEr- 



