THE CHELSEA ‘“‘ PHYSICKE GARDEN ” 
tree bearing Jesuits’ bark which had done such wonders in agues. 
What was very ingenious was the subterranean heat, conveyed 
by a stove under the conservatory, all vaulted with brick, so that 
he has the doors and windows open in the hardest frosts; ex- 
cluding only the snow.” 
So far Mr. Watts appears to have done well, but six years 
later we find him getting into disgrace, and the Vice-President 
of the Society of Antiquaries—as appears from an _ original 
manuscript afterwards published in one of twelve volumes of 
the ‘“Archeologia”’—says ‘the Chelsea Physick Garden has 
great variety of plants both in and out of the greenhouses: the 
perennial green hedges, and rows of different coloured herbs are 
very pretty, and so are the banks set with shades of herbs in the 
Irish stitch way ; but many plants in the garden were not in so 
good order as might be expected ; after I had been there, I learned 
that Mr. Watts, the keeper of it, was blamed for his neglect and 
would be removed.” 
Poor Mr. Watts—whether dismissed or not, he sinned in intro- 
ducing, in the seventeenth century, what reads very much like that 
modern abomination, a ribbon border. 
Throughout its history the lessees of the garden seem to have 
experienced difficulties in meeting the expenses of the upkeep, and 
various plans were tried to enable them to do so. In 1697 the 
lease had been extended, but soon after, the Society of Apothe- 
caries, finding that in its corporate capacity it could not support 
the cost of the garden, adopted the expedient of making certain 
members voluntarily responsible for it; this was in 1707, but six 
years later the Trustees reported that, owing to the difficulty of 
getting in subscriptions, they would be unable to continue its 
maintenance beyond the present term of seven years. 
It is in 1714 that we find the first mention of Dr. Sloan, after- 
wards Sir Hans Sloan, in connection with the garden. 
He was at this time Lord of the Manor of Chelsea, having pur- 
chased it two years earlier from William, Lord Cheyne. 
Sir Hans Sloan was born in Ireland in 1660 of Scottish parentage. 
A delicate youth, he came to London to study medicine and 
the allied sciences, particularly chemistry and botany. At the 
age of twenty-three he went to Paris to work under distinguished 
professors, afterwards studying in the university of Montpellier, 
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