THE BOOK OP THE EOYAL 



I — 



furniture of sucli a ground with the most excellent and warrant- 

 able fruit (I say warrantable, because it is j>articularly due to 

 their honest industry, and so rarely to be met with elsewhere), 

 and other accessories to gardens of all denominations, as in that 

 vast, ample collection which I have lately seen and well con- 

 sidered at Brompton Park, near Kensington ; the veiy sight of 

 which alone gives an idea of something that is greater than I 

 can well express without an enumeration of particulars ; and of 

 the exceeding industry, method, and address of those wdio have 

 undertaken and cultivated it for public use, I mean Mr. George 

 London (chief gardener to their Majesties), and his associate Mr. 

 Henry Wise. 



" As for the nursery part, in voucher, and to make good what 

 I have said on that pai-ticular, one needs no more than to take 

 a walk to Brompton Park (upon a fair morning) to behold and 

 admire what a magazine these industrious men have provided 

 fit for age and choice in their several classes, and all within one 

 enclosure ; such an assemblage I believe as is nowhere else to be 

 met with in this kingdom, nor in any other that I know of" 



In 1714 the nursery passed into the possession of Smith and 

 Carpenter ; the latter of whom was author of an edition of the 

 " Eetired Gardener," a work which was originally a translation 

 by London and Wise of Liger's " Jardinier Solitaire." It then 

 passed into the hands of a succession of nurserymen, the chief of 

 whom were Gray and Wear, by some members of whose families, 

 or partners, it was held from 1756 to 1852, when it was in the 

 hands of John Adams, the successor of Gray, Adams, and Hogg. 

 Various portions of the grounds had been disposed of, from 

 time to time, as the suburlDan residences became general in the 



