ELIZABETHAN GARDEN LITERATURE 
147 
by Johnson in 1633, in the Preface to the Reader this fact 
is pointed out, and, moreover, Johnson maintains that the 
translation made by Dr. Priest, which Gerard states to have 
perished, really came into Gerard’s hands, and was largely 
used by him, Gerard himself not being sufficiently proficient 
in his knowledge of Latin. “ I cannot,” wrote Johnson, 
“ commend my author for endeavouring to hide this thing 
from us.” L’Obel and Garret both helped to amend some 
mistakes in the Latin in the Herbal, while it was going through 
the press. L’Obel himself was the author of a work on plants 
—Stirpium Adversaria (1570). In this he was assisted by Peter 
Pena, whose acquaintance he had made while studying at 
Montpelier. Mathias de Lobel, or i’Obel, was bom at Lille in 
1538, and travelled about Europe, and practised medicine both 
in Antwerp and Delft before he came to England. For many 
years he took charge of the garden belonging to Lord Zouche 
in Hackney, and was made “ Botanist to the King ” (James I.). 
The familiar " Lobelia ” was so named in his honour by Plumier. 
The first rudiments of a scientific classification are to be found 
in his works, which are therefore considered superior to those 
of Dodoens, who never attempted anything of the kind. He 
had studied Mattioli, and frequently refers to him ; but his 
work, although esteemed by the learned, being in Latin, and 
never translated, could not become popular, as did the work 
of his contemporary, Gerard, which was written in English. 
Gerard’s Herbal has always maintained a conspicuous position 
in the literature of flowers, and the second issue, so ably edited 
by Thomas Johnson, tended greatly to increase the popularity 
and the value of the work. 
John Gerard, or Gerarde, was born in 1545 at Nantwich, in 
Cheshire, and died in 1607. He was not only a physician, and 
learned “ in simples,” but also a practical gardener, and culti¬ 
vated a physic-garden of his own at Holborn, then a suburb of 
London, where he lived. The first work he published was a 
catalogue of the plants in his garden, 1 which contained nearly 
1 There is a unique copy of this work in the British Museum, which 
has been reprinted and edited by D. Jackson. It was printed again in 
1598, and is occasionally found bound up with the edition of his Herbal 
of the same year. 
