18 
MEMOIR OF 
who is supposed to have arrived in this country 
during the reign of Elizabeth, and afterwards to 
have been in the service of the Lord Treasurer 
Salisbury, and Lord Wooton. He travelled into 
various parts of Europe, and, in 1620, was on 
board of a vessel forming part of a fleet sent 
against the Algerines. Availing himself of that 
opportunity of pursuing his favourite studies, he 
collected plants from Barbary and the Mediter- 
ranean Islands, and a few years after we find him 
settled at Lambeth, where he founded a celebrated 
Botanic Garden ; and, in 1629, obtained the title 
of Gardener to the King, (Charles I.) Here he 
established his museum, which was the wonder of 
the age, and was known as Tradescant’s Ark. It 
was much frequented by the principal nobility, 
who contributed specimens; and among the names 
of these his “ benefactors,” as he terms them, 
appear those of the King and Queen, Archbishop 
Laud, the Duke and Duchess of Buckingham, &c. 
At what period he died, we are not informed, 
though it is conjectured about 1652; lie was 
certainly dead in 1656, when his son published 
a catalogue of the contents of his “ Ark,” under 
the following title: “ Musaium Tradescantianum ; 
or a Collection of Rarities Preserved at South 
Lambeth, near London.” He arranges “ the 
materialls” under “two sorts; one Naturall, of 
which some are more familiarly known and named 
