324 LONDON PARKS © GARDENS 
grows by the wall, was probably planted when intro¬ 
duced from Nepaul in 1823. The wistaria and pome¬ 
granate are old and still flourishing, and young plants 
of the trees once famous in the Garden are doing 
well. The amount of attention the novelties in the 
Physic Garden used to attract is well shown by the 
spurious translation of De Sorbiere’s travels. The little 
book, published in 1698, purported to be a translation 
of De Sorbiere, but was really an original skit. The 
writer pretends De Sorbiere visited the Garden, and re¬ 
ported a delightful series of imaginary flowers. “ I was 
at Chelsey, where I took particular notice of the plants 
in the Green House at that time, as Urtica male oleus 
Japonic, the stinking nettle of Japan; Goosberia sterelis 
Armenia , the Armenian gooseberry bush that bears no 
fruit (this had been potted thirty years) ; Brambelia fruc- 
tificans Laplandi or the Blooming Bramble of Lapland ; 
with a hundred other curious plants, and a particular 
Collection of Briars and Thorns, which were some part 
of the curse of the Creation.” That it was worth while 
laughing at the Garden in a popular skit, shows what 
an important position it had taken. The green-houses 
were among the earliest attempted, and many scientific 
visitors describe their plans and arrangements. They 
were rebuilt at great cost in 1732. The statue to Sir 
Hans Sloane, by Michael Rysbrach, stood in a niche in 
the green-house wall. It was moved to the centre of the 
Garden in 1751, where it still stands. The Garden was 
honoured by a visit from the great Linnasus in 1736, and 
he noted in his diary : “ Miller of Chelsea permitted me 
to collect many plants in the Garden, and gave me several 
dried specimens collected in South America.” Among 
the valuable bequests to the Garden were collections of 
