SIR "WILLIAM JACKSON HOOKER. 



921 



suspect, of that of more than one of the Commissioners of Woods and 

 Forests. 



" The next step was to find a residence within a reasonable distance 

 from the Gardens. There was none to be had within two-thirds of a mile, 

 where, in the adjoining parish of Mortlake, there stood a commodious 

 three- storied many-roomed building, of which he took a lease. It was 

 pleasantly situated on 7^ acres of ground with some fine trees that 

 stretched down to the Thames, had a walled garden, orchard, stables, and 

 coach-house, and was in good repair. It bore the name of Brick-stables, 

 for which its owner, the possessor of large property in the vicinage, 

 substituted that of West Park. 



" The translation from Glasgow to West Park occupied my father for 

 three months, during which he was heavily and painfully handicapped by 

 the absence of my mother, who was nursing a dying daughter in Jersey, 

 and the illness of his father, who was nearer ninety than eighty years of 

 age, and had lived with him for ten years. His only surviving son was 

 serving in the Antarctic Expedition under Captain (afterwards Admiral 

 Sir James Clarke) Ross. There being no railroad available in those days, 

 he hired a smack for the conveyance by sea of his furniture, household 

 goods and gods, herbarium and library, from Glasgow to London, where 

 they were put into lighters and landed on the banks of the Thames at 

 West Park itself. Previous to this he had lightened his library by the 

 sale of 1,000 volumes, chiefly of classics, Delphin, Aldine, and Elzevir 

 editions, collected in the middle of the previous century by his godfather, 

 Mr. Jackson, of Canterbury. The cost of the move was about £300, his first 

 year's salary. Early in July he was settled at West Park, where the 

 drawing-room, ante-drawing-room, and study were shelved from floor to 

 ceiling and filled with books, and five rooms were occupied with the herba- 

 rium. Nothing was allowed him for the conveyance and fittings necessary 

 for these indispensable working materials, which he kept up mainly at 

 his own cost, for the use of the establishment, for twenty-four years. 



" On entering upon his duties under the Commissioners of Woods and 

 Forests the new Director was cordially welcomed, and to his surprise and 

 gratification found that he had a free hand and promise of favourable 

 consideration in projecting improvements in the Botanic Gardens. His 

 plan of operations is tersely and best given in his first Report presented 

 to Parliament on the condition of the Gardens, which begins with, ' Having 

 no instructions for my guidance, I determined to follow the suggestions 

 of Dr. LindleyV Report.' Meanwhile Lord Lincoln (afterwards fifth 

 Duke of Newcastle) had succeeded Lord Duncannon, and in him, Mr. 

 Milne, the Honourable C. Gore, and Mr. Philipps, secretary to the Board, 

 he found gentlemen as interested as himself in the development of the 

 establishment, who made frequent visits, going into every detail of the 

 Garden works and giving much of that ' efficient assistance in scientific 

 management and adaptation to useful purpose ' which their former Chief 

 Commissioner had declared the Board to be incapable of affording. 



" To give a clear account of the additions made and improvements 

 carried out in the establishment of Kew it will be convenient to consider 

 them as far as possible under the four heads of Botanic Gardens proper, 

 Pleasure Ground or Arboretum, Museum, Herbarium and Library. 



