CHAP. II. 



BRITISH ISLANDS. 



41 



brought from Soesdyke in Holland, the seat of Mr. Bentinckj 

 afterwards Earl of Portland. The gardens of Holland were 

 at that time the richest in Europe. 



The great introducer of foreign trees in this century was Dr. 

 Compton, who was the bishop of London from 1675 to 1713, 

 and who may truly be said to have been the father of all that 

 has since been done in this branch of rural improvement. 

 Bishop Compton was the youngest son of Spencer, Earl of 

 Northampton; he was made bishop of Oxford in 1674, and 

 was translated to the see of London in the following year. 

 He was a zealous protestant and a most excellent man. He 

 lived a retired life at Fulham, attending to his episcopal duties 

 and to his garden. 



In the 3 2d book of Ray's Hi&toria Plantarum^ written in 1686, 

 in which he treats of plants imperfectly known, there is a chapter 

 on the rare trees and shrubs which he saw in the garden of 

 Bishop Compton at Fulham. Among these are enumerated 

 the tulip tree, the magnolia, the sassafras, the tree angelica 

 ( Aralia spinosa), the hickory, the box elder, the liquidambar, the 

 Constantinople nut, some species of Cratte^gus, some of /thus, 

 some of Cornus, and some of ^'triplex. Bishop Compton died 

 in 1713, at the age of 81 years. His garden was visited by Sir 

 William Watson in 1751, 48 years after his death; and he gave 

 the following account of this bishop and his garden to the 

 Royal Society: — "Dr. Henry Compton," he observes, "planted 

 a greater variety of curious exotic plants and trees, than had at 

 that time been collected in any garden in England. This ex- 

 cellent prelate presided over the see of London from the year 

 1675 to 1713 ; during which time, by means of a large corre- 

 spondence with the principal botanists of Europe and America, 

 he introduced into England a great number of plants, but more 

 especially trees, which had never been seen here before, and 

 described by no author ; and in the cultivation of these (as we 

 are informed by the late most ingenious Mr. Ray) he agreeably 

 spent such part of his time as could most conveniently be 

 spared from his other more arduous occupations. From this 

 prelate's goodness, in permitting, with freedom, persons curious 

 in botany to visit his garden, and see therein what was to be 

 found nowhere else ; and from his zeal in propagating botanical 

 knowledge, by readily communicating to others, as well to 

 foreigners as to our own countrymen, such plants and seeds as 

 he was in possession of, his name is mentioned with the greatest 

 encomiums by the botanical writers of his time; viz., by Hermann, 

 Ray, Plukenet, and others. As this prelate's length of life and 

 continuance in the see of London were remarkable, so we find 

 the botanists, who wrote after Mr. Ray, most frequently men- 

 tioning in their works the new accessions of treasures to this 



