16 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 
the soil. The natural way in which Pepys mentions how 
other people—Sir W. Batten and Mrs. Turner—during 
the Fire buried in their city gardens their wine and 
other goods they could not send to the country, that 
is, Bethnal Green, only shows how general these little 
plots were. 
Gerard, that delightful old herbalist and gardener to 
Lord Burghley, in Elizabeth’s reign, had his own garden in 
Holborn. In it flourished no less than some 972 varieties 
of plants, of which he published a catalogue in 1596. 
His friend and fellow-botanist, L’Obel, whose name is 
best remembered by the familiar genus Lobelia, testified 
that he had seen all the plants on the list actually growing 
there. The great faith and skill with which these old 
gardeners attempted to grow in London all the newly- 
acquired floral treasures, from all parts of the world, is 
truly touching. To make them “ denizons of our 
London gardens ” was Gerard’s delight. And this 
worthy ambition was shared by L’Obel, who looked after 
Lord Zouche’s garden in Hackney ; by John Parkinson, 
author of the delightful work on gardening ; and later 
on, the mantle descended to the Tradescants, who had 
their museum (the nucleus of the Ashmolean) or “ Ark ” 
and garden in Lambeth; by Sir John Sloane, who 
established the Physic Garden in Chelsea, and numerous 
others. It is curious to think how many of the plants 
now familiar everywhere made their first appearance in 
London. They were not reared elsewhere and brought to 
the large shows which are arranged in the metropolis to 
exhibit novelties to the public, but really London-grown. 
They were foreign importations, little seeds or bulbs, 
sent home to the merchants trading with the Levant, 
or brought back by enterprising explorers from the New 
