THE LURE OF THE GARDEN 
may become a preponderating one; and it is interesting 
to look back through the centuries upon these ele¬ 
mentary plantations that time has caused to blossom so 
wonderfully, these beds of “weeds” that have turned 
to lilies and roses. 
The earliest public “physick gardens” are discover¬ 
able during the sixteenth century in various parts of 
Europe, the first being that established at Padua in 
1545, for the benefit of students at the university. 
Others soon followed in different Italian and French 
towns, all devoted to the cultivation of plants thought 
to be potent either as medicine or poison. 
English scholars of that time complained bitterly 
that they were forced to travel so far to study even the 
elements of botany; for it was not until close upon a 
hundred years later that the first English public physic 
garden was made possible, by the gift, in 1632, from 
the Earl of Danby, of a tract of land to the University 
of Oxford. This prospective garden contained some 
five acres, much of it low and marshy, lying between 
the water walks of Magdalene College and Christ 
Church, close to the bridge over the Clerkwell. It was 
even then historic ground, being the site of an ancient 
Jewish burial-ground, and it had long lain neglected. 
Scholars and noblemen interested themselves in this 
garden, much labor was expended upon it, and it 
received many donations of plants and specimens, as 
well as valuable volumes for its library. It soon be- 
2 12 
