HISTORICAL GARDENS 
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dried plants, now in the British Museum of Natural 
History, and a library left by Dr. Dale in 1739, on con¬ 
dition that “ suitable and proper conveniences ” were 
made for them at the Physic Garden. They should be 
there still, and the new buildings are eminently suited 
for their reception ; and their use to students would be 
very great, now that the Garden is well equipped for 
supplying all the requirements for the modem teaching 
of botany. 
Before quitting these gardens of historic interest, 
there is one which must not be forgotten, although its 
former charms have vanished, and it can no longer claim 
such botanical curiosities as the Chelsea Physic Garden— 
that is, the remains of John Evelyn’s Garden of Sayes 
Court. The Garden is now enjoyed by numbers in that 
crowded district of Deptford, through the kindness of 
Mr. Evelyn, the descendant of the famous diarist, John 
Evelyn, who keeps it up as well as opens it to the public. 
The Manor of Deptford was retained by the Crown in 
James I.’s time, and Sayes Court was leased to Chris¬ 
topher Browne, the grandfather of Sir Richard Browne, 
whose only daughter and heiress John Evelyn married. 
After his wife had succeeded to the property, and they 
had lived there some years and made the Garden, John 
Evelyn purchased the freehold land from Charles II. 
The delight he took in his garden, how he exchanged 
seeds and plants, imported rare specimens from abroad, 
through his many friends, and grew them with success, 
is well known. The ruthless way his treasures were 
treated by Peter the Great was a sore trial to Evelyn. 
The Czar amused himself, among other acts of van¬ 
dalism, by being wheeled about the beds and hedges 
in a wheelbarrow. The holly hedge, even, he partially 
