G E R 



G E R 



Lffion of any nobleman in the kingdom : arr.ong theft vcte 

 I .-.ny exotics, introduced by Gerarde.'' Tliis is confirmed 

 h\' the dedication of the tirfl edition of his Herbal, in 

 I ,'97, to that ili^flrious nobleman, in which he fays he liad 

 ' that way employed his principal ftudy, and aimoil all his 

 t.ir.e'' then for 20 jears. It appears therefore that he had 

 j;^:ven up his original profeffion. Johnfon, the editor of his 

 r oond edition, fays " he lived fome ten years after the pub- 

 i ^.ing of this work, and died about 1607 ;" fo that he fur- 

 \ v.'d his noble patron nine years. See Cecil, William. 

 Gerarde lived in Holborn, and Iiad there a large botanic 

 ■Jen of his own, of which he publillied a catalogue in 

 y6 and again in 1599. Of this work fcarccly an im- 

 prcfTion is known to exill, except one in the Britifh Muieum, 

 \\;iich proved of great flie in preparing the Hortus Ke-werjis 

 of Ml. Alton, as ferving to afcertain the time v.-hen many 

 old plints were firil cultivated. Holborn was then in the out- 

 flvirts of the tow:i on that fide. The reader of Englifh 

 hii^ory will recoUeft that the hypocritical Richard HI. 

 alked the bifhop of Ely to fend for " fome cf the good 

 ftrawberries which he heard the bifliop had in his garden in 

 Holbourn," by way of (hewing hjmlelf in good humour at 

 the council, while he was in fadt meditating the feizure of 

 lord Mailings. The catalogue of Grarde's garden con- 

 tains, according to Dr. Pakeney, ic^3 fpecies, or at leall 

 fuppofed fuch, "though many doubtlcis were varieties, and 

 '' ij is an atteftation of Lobel fubjoinrd, aCTerting his 

 ng feen nearly all of them growing and flowering. 

 i ins was one of the earlieft botanic gardens in Europe. 



The c^reat work of our author is his Herbal, or General 

 Hillory of Plants, printed in folio in 1597, by John Norton, 

 ■who procured the wooden cu s from Frankfort, originally 

 done fir the German herbal of Tabernasmontanus. The 

 bafis of the text was the work of Dodonasus entitled Pemp- 

 t::d:s, for which alfo we believe the fame cuts had been 

 ufej ; fee DoDOX-i:i;s. Lobel afferts that a trartflation of 

 the Pc.T.ptades had been made by a Dr. Priell, at the ex- 

 pence of Mr. Norton, but the tranflator dying foon after, 

 the manufcript was ufed by Gerarde, indeed without ac- 

 knowledgment. The intelligent reader of the Herbal will 

 obferve that moft of the remarks relative to the places in 

 which certain plants are found, their common ufes, &c., 

 belong to the original work, and refer to the country in 

 which Dodomus wrote, not to England. Gerarde is alfo 

 accufed of having been no Latin Icholar, and of having 

 made many miilakes in the additional matter which he tranf- 

 kted from the works of Clufius, Lobel, &c. He alfo cer- 

 tainly mifapplicd many of the cuts. Notwithftandlng fuch 

 faults, Gerarde had the great merit of a practical know- 

 ledge of plants, with unbounded zeal, and indefatigable 

 perfeverance. Dr. Pidteney juftly obferves that notwith- 

 ftanding. his manifeft inferiority to Lobel in point of learn- 

 ing, it mnft yet be O'lVncd that Gerarde contributed greatly 

 to bring for.vard the knowledge of plants in England. His 

 conneftion with the great, and his fituation in London, fa- 

 voured an extcnfive correfpondence, both with foreigners 

 and his own countrynnen ; and his fuccefs in procuring new 

 exotics, as well as fcarce indigenous plants, was equal to 

 his diligence and afliduity. In faft, we owe to Gerarde 

 and his friends the difcovery of many new Englilh plants ; 

 and his name will be remembered by botanifts with elteem, 

 when the utility of his Herbal is fuperfeded." Among 

 the perfons to whom he was indebted for the comnmnication 

 of exotic plants and feeds, are recorded fir Walter Ra- 

 leigri, Edwa.'i'h.rd Zouch, and lord Huafdon, with many 

 of Jefs elevited rank. 



A fecond edition of Gerarde's Herbal was publirtied by 



I 



Dr. Tliomas Johnfon in 1636, which has ever fmcc been 

 a very popular book, and ind.ed, as Haller remarks, Ge- 

 rarde was the clafiical author of the Engli.li, alraoil to the 

 time of Ray. Johnfon, like many other editors, cenfurcd 

 his author with great freedom, and undoubtedly in-jde 

 many cfTential corrections. He has prefixed a iii of his 

 additions, which are very numerous, and a learned hiftorical 

 preface. He was a man of far more learning than Gerarde, 

 but by no means fo good a botanid. Among the moft valu- 

 able of his additions are the co nmunications of Mr John 

 Goodyer of Maple-Durham, Hampiliire, a man of fingular 

 penetration and accuracy in practical boluKy. Ji.;hnfon ' 

 added many excellent figures, tkher of new p'ap.ts, or in 

 the place of fuch as were badly executed in tlie firil edition. 

 Among the latter is Grat'iola htifoHa, which HaUer 

 complains he could make nothing of. It proves to be 

 SculeHar'ia m'./ior, and is well reprofented in Juhnfou's edition, 

 P- 581. 



Mr. Granger, in his Biograpiiical Hiitory of England, 

 ed. 4. V. I. 275, mentions only two engraved portraits of 

 Gerarde. 



" John' Gerarde ; engraved by V\'JIiur:i Rog?rs, for the 

 firft edition of his Herbal. 



Ditto engraved by Paine, for Johnfon's edition of the 

 fame book.'' 



The latter, dated 1636, is a final! copy of the former. 

 The-e is a fprig of the potatoe plant in the left hand. 



The writer of the prefent article is pofTed'cd of the cop- 

 per-plate itfilf, very much worn, of an odtavo portrait of 

 Geraide, without age or date, holding a fprig of Ci/?iis, 

 with his arms and the Italian motto, jO'iiJlnfi, lu;r^. In 

 one corner below is a branch of Jafmine, in the other the 

 Buglofs. The name of the engraver feems to be Hall. 

 Pulteney''s Sketches of t!ie Progrefs of Botany in England. 

 Granger's Biographical Hillorv of England. Haller's 

 Bibl. Bot. S. 



GERARDIA, in Botany, named by Plumier in memory 

 of the Engliili herbalift John Gerai-de ; fee tliat article. (It 

 may alio ferve t« commemorate a botaniil of our own time, 

 Louis Gerard, M. D. author of the excellent Flora Gal- 

 loprovincialis, publilhed in 1 761, with a few exquilitely 

 engraved plates, and who, we believe, is Hill living, at a 

 very ad\^auced age, at Cottignac in Provence, where the 

 writer of this vifitcd him in 17S6. (See Tour on the Conti- 

 nent, cd. 2. V. I. 204.) — Plum. Nov. Gen. 30. t. .12. Linn. 

 Gen. 307. Schreb. 403. V/iild. 8p. PI. v. 3. 221. 

 Mart. Mi'l. Dift v. 2. Juff. 1 19. Lamarck. Idultr. 

 t. 529. (Nigrinii ; Linn. Mant. 42 and 512. Melafma ; 

 B'jrg. Cap. 162. Gjsrtn. t. 55.)— Clafs and order, DiJy- 

 rinm'ui Angicfpernn.i. Ni!t. Ord. PirfoniUtr, Linn. S^rophu- 

 luriiT, Jiiff. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, of one leaf, permanent, 

 with five upright, fharp fegmciils. Co/-, of one petal, ringent, 

 tube round, longer than the calyx ; upper lip erett, ob- 

 tufo, flat, broaciell, emargiuatp ; lower refltxed, deeply 

 three-cleft, its lateral fegments cmargiiiate, the middle o.ie 

 (horter, deeply divided. Stam. FiLiments foiir, fcarcely fo 

 long -as the tube, tv.-o of them rather jhorter tiian the reft ; 

 anthers fniall. Pifi. Germtn fuperior, ovate, fnull ; ilyle fim- 

 ple, fhort ; iligma obtufe. Perk Capfule ovate, of twa cells 

 and two valves, opening at the bale, the partifioa contrary to 

 the valves. Seeds ovate; acco.ding to Linnaeus folitary, 

 which does not appear from plumiT's works. 



Ed". Ch. Calyx live-cleft. Corolla two-lipped ; the lower 

 lip in ti'iree diep t-margiuate lobes, the middlemoil deeply di- 

 vided. Capfule of two cells, opening at the bafc. 



This 



