118 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



been sent to study gardening at Versailles, and on his return he 

 was appointed Koyal gardener by Charles I. French influence 

 was now very great, and the works of Quintinye and Le Notre 

 were translated by Evelyn and London and Wise, so that they 

 doubtless were standard books of the time in England. George 

 London had been sent to France for study by Rose, and on his 

 return he was gardener to the great Compton, Bishop of London. 

 A few years afterwards he and others took the Brompton Park 

 Nursery, and in 1G94, two of his partners having died and the 

 other retired, London was left in sole possession, and he took Mr. 

 Henry Wise into the business. This nursery was over 100 acres, 

 and was well stocked, and Evelyn described it as " the greatest 

 collection ever seen or heard of in books or travels." Bowack 

 (1705) and Switzer both agree that the stock at a penny a plant 

 would have produced £40,000. London was an active business 

 man. He and his partner Wise had a large trade all over 

 England. In 1G9G he went with the Earl of Portland to France, 

 on an embassy to King William, and visited Versailles, his 

 observations thereon being given in his translation of M. Quin- 

 tinye 's work. On the death of King William Mr. Wise was 

 appointed Royal gardener to Queen Anne, and Mr. London rode 

 all over England, visiting all the most remarkable gardens on 

 his journeys. Mr. Wise survived Mr. London, and, like him, 

 was a landscape gardener, he having designed the grounds at 

 Blenheim, amongst others. They translated M. de Quintinye's 

 work, and also that of M. Louis Liger, under the title of " The 

 Retired Gardener " (170G), which was no doubt the best complete 

 work on gardening then extant. 



1705. Richard Bradley, F.R.S., who resided at Camden 

 House, Kensington, was a prolific author, who very materially 

 aided the progress of scientific horticulture. His hobby appears 

 to have been the growth of succulent plants, but his " New 

 Improvements of Planting and G ardening " (1717) went through 

 several editions, and was for the date a most valuable and 

 suggestive work. Bradley studied "the motion of the sap," and 

 also was one of the first to write on " the generation of plants in 

 English," and it is not too much to say that Bradley did much 

 to carry on the horticultural enthusiasm that John Evelyn had 

 originated twenty years before. 



1707. Thomas Fairchild lias been described as one of the few 



