GARDENS OF CELEBRITIES 
was well said of him “‘ that even the haters of prelacy could never 
hate Juxon.” 
The Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford was built and endowed by 
Gilbert Sheldon, who succeeded Juxon both at Fulham and at 
Lambeth. So great was his munificence that it is said that he 
laid out in charitable, pious, and public uses, £66,000, much of 
this money being devoted to the relief of the sufferers in the time 
of the plague; and a not inconsiderable sum was expended by 
him on the Palace of Fulham. Sheldon’s successor, Dr. Humphrey 
Henckman, was instrumental in effecting the escape of Charles II. 
after the Battle of Worcester, and was rewarded after the Restora- 
tion by a nomination to the See of Salisbury ; in 1663 he succeeded 
Sheldon in the See of London. 
From the period when Bishop Grindal left Fulham for Lambeth, 
little or nothing is heard of the gardens, which, in his time, had 
promised to become so famous, until we come to Henry Compton, 
one of the most distinguished of the metropolitan prelates. Born 
in 1632, Compton was tutor to the Princesses Mary and Anne. 
He was appointed to the See of London in 1675, but popery was 
then regaining ground, and the Bishop strenuously opposed it. 
By so doing he incurred the enmity of the Duke of York, 
afterwards James II., and on that prince’s accession to the 
throne was removed from several posts that he had filled, and at 
length was suspended from all spiritual functions. “He con- 
tinued, however,” says Macaulay, “‘to reside in his palace and 
receive his revenue.”” And good came out of evil, for he was 
able to turn his attention to his favourite pursuit of gardening. 
We learn that “he had a real and scientific knowledge of plants, 
an attainment not usual among the great of those days, and 
during his long residence at Fulham of thirty-eight years, he 
gave up much time and study to their cultivation, and was 
able to introduce into the garden a larger number of hardy 
exotic trees and shrubs, and a greater variety of greenhouse 
rarities than had ever been seen in England.” But he did more 
than this—for he diffused the knowledge he had himself acquired, 
and generously opened his grounds to the inspection and study 
of the scientific students of horticulture and botany, and his 
collections were visited by the most eminent horticulturists 
and botanists of the day. 
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