it 
152 CHAPTER II. 
fioned by this circumflance, befides the 
great expence^ was, probably, among the 
obftacles the author complains of, which fo 
long retarded the publication of his work* 
Add to this, that the figures Were after all 
inferior to the old tables, both in number 
and execution. Johnson's exceed thofe 
of Parkinson, by more than an hundred.. 
Both thefe works may be conlidered as D/- 
gejls of the Botany of the age, in the Eng- 
lifli tongue , but it is to be feared the fame 
cenfure lies againft them which Cafpar 
Bauhine lodged againft Dalechamp's 
hiftory, publifhedin 1588, in which he de- 
monftrated, that more than 400 plants were 
twice defcribed. 
Nor is it wonderful that the attempt to 
comprehend, and difcriminate the whole 
vegetable kingdom, was a plan too exten- 
five for one man, efpecially in the aug- 
mented ftate in which Parkinson found 
it. The magnitude of the deiign necef- 
farily involved a multitude of errors, and 
expofed both Gerard and Parkinson 
to the cenfures of malignant critics. Had 
the candour of Lob el been equal to his 
learning 
