586 
A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF 
[tradescant 
Physic Garden of the greatest extent.” In 1629 he obtained 
the appointment of gardener to Charles I., and seems to have 
died about 1650. He left a son of the same name, the subject 
of our notice, who inherited his father’s tastes, voyaged to 
Virginia, returned thence with a large collection of seeds and 
plants, and published the undermentioned work. The book 
in itself is a source of never-ending interest and amusement to 
the curious reader. As the late Professor Newton said in his 
address to the Museums’ Association in 1891, “ Did time 
permit, I would gladly go over this little book page by page, 
for I believe there is hardly a leaf but would furnish the text 
for a sermon.” It mentions several British birds, such as 
“ the Bustard as big as a Turky, usually taken by Greyhounds 
on N eivmarket-heath .” There is also mention of the Dodo 
under the title of “ The Dodar, from the Island of Mauritius, 
it is not able to Hie being so big,” while among other 
rarities the collection comprised “ Two feathers of the 
Phoenix tayle,” and “ The Claw of the bird Bock ; who, as 
authors report, is able to truss an elephant.” 
John Tradescant the younger died in 1662, and was 
buried in Lambeth Church, April 25, of that year. He had 
bequeathed his collection to Elias Ashmole, his friend, by deed 
of gift with his wife, who, however, refused to deliver it after 
his death, but was compelled by the Court of Chancery. She 
was soon afterwards found drowned in a pond in her own 
garden {vide Ashmole’s Diary), and it then (1677) passed into 
Ashmole’s possession. The original paintings of the Trade- 
scant portraits are preserved in. the Ashmolean Museum, 
Oxford. 
Tradescant’ s Museum, or “ Ark,” as it was generally 
called, “ attracted the curiosity of the age, and was much 
frequented by the great.” 1 
*1656. Musaeum Tradescantianum : | or, | a Collection | of | Rarities. | 
Preserved | at South- Lambeth neer London | By | John Trade- 
scant. | — | [Colophon] | London, | Printed by John Grismond, 
1 See also an article by Mr. Mullens in British Birds, 1911. 
