November 20. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 107 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
M 
W 
NOVEMBER 20—26, 1851. 
Weather near London in 1850. 
Sun 
, r 
Sun 
Moon 
Moon’s 
Clock 
Day of 
D 
Barometer. 
Thermo. 
Wind. 
Rain in In. 
Rises. 
Sets. 
R. & S. 
Age. 
bef. Sun. 
Year. 
20 
Th 
Waxen Chatterer comes. 
28.995 — 28.696 
50—43 
s.w. 
12 
28 a. 7 
3 a. 4 
3 31 
27 
14 17 
324 
21 
F 
Princess Royal Born, 1840. 
29.715 —29.480 
49—30 
N.W. 
01 
30 
2 
4 54 
28 
14 2 
325 
22 
s 
Sun’s deolination, 20° 8's. 
29.643 — 29.429 
55—44 
S. 
22 
32 
1 
6 16 
29 
13 46 
326 
23 
Sun 
23 Sunday after Trinity. 
29.551 — 29.337 
53—39 
S.W. 
26 
33 
0 
sets. 
© 
13 30 
327 
24 
M 
Grey Wagtail comes. 
,29.305 — 29.018 
56—43 
S.W. 
46 
35 
in 
5 a 1 9 
1 
13 13 
328 
25 
Tc 
29.217 — 29.093 
52—31 
S.W. 
04 
36 
58 
6 6 
2 
12 55 
329 
26 
W 
Oak leafless. 
29.411 —29.358 
45—34 
s.w. 
02 
38 
57 
7 2 
3 
12 36 
330 
In the chancel of the church of St. Olaves, Hart Street, London, 
repose the remains of Dr. William Turner, who, we are told by 
Anthony Wood, “ after all the rambles and troubles he- had made and 
did endure, did quietly lay down his head and departed this life on the 
7th of July in 1568.” We have often had occasion to lemark of this 
good old bigot, Anthony Wood, that he saw no excellence in any 
one that differed from himself either in politics or religion, and as 
Dr. Turner was totally at variance with him in both, it is a matter of 
course that Wood saw in him neither virtue or merit: “This person, 
who was very conceited of his own worth,” says Wood, “ was hot-headed, 
a busy-body, and much addicted to the opinions of Luther, would needs, 
in the heighth of his study of physic, turn tlieologist, but always refused 
the usual ceremonies to be observed in order to his being made a priest: 
and whether he had orders conferred upon him according to the Roman 
Catholic manner appears not. Sure it is that while he was a young man, 
he went, unsent for, through many parts of the nation, and preached the 
Word of God, not only in towns and villages, but also in cities. In his 
rambles he settled for a time at Oxford, among several of his countrymen 
that he found there, purposely for the conversation of men and books. 
At the same, and after following his old trade of preaching without a call, 
i he was imprisoned, and kept in close durance for a considerable time.” 
Such is the monstrously perverted sketch given by bigotry of one of the best 
men, one of the most consistent promulgers of the Reformation, and 
one of the most accomplished men of science who lived, suffered, and 
benefited mankind during the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, 
and Elizabeth, and such a specimen serves, with many others, to warn 
the searcher after historical truth not to found his judgment upon the 
opinion of any one historian, but to base that judgment upon facts. 
Now let us see what are the facts in the biography of Dr. Turner. He 
was born at Morpeth, in Northumberland, and, aided by Sir Thomas 
Wentworth, completed his education at Pembroke College, Cambridge, 
of which college he was a student in 1538, and acquired a high reputation 
for his learning. 
He applied himself to philosophy and physic, and early discovered an 
inclination to the study of plants, and a wish to be well acquainted with 
the Materia Medina of the antients. He complains of the little assist¬ 
ance he could receive in these pursuits. “ Being yet a student of Pem¬ 
broke Hall, whereas I could learn never one Greke, neither Latin, nor 
English name, even amongst the physicians, of any herhe or tree : such 
was the ignorance at that time ; and as yet there was no English Herbal, 
but one all full of unlearned cacographies and falsely naming of herbes.” 
At Cambridge, Turner imbibed the principles of the reformers, and after¬ 
wards, agreeably to the practice of many others, united to the character 
of the physician that of the divine. He became a preacher, travelling 
into many parts of England, and propagated, with so much zeal, the 
cause of the reformation, that he excited persecution from Bishop 
Gardiner, and that imprisonment mentioned by Wood. On his enlarge¬ 
ment he submitted to voluntary exile during the remainder of the reign 
j of Henry VIII. 
This banishment proved favourable to his advancement in medical 
and botanical studies; he resided at Basil, at Strasburgh, at Bonn ; but 
principally at Cologn, with many other English refugees. He dwelt for 
some time at Wiessenburgh ; he travelled into Italy, and took the degree 
of Doctor of Physic at Ferrarah. As, at this period, the learned were 
applying with great assiduity to the illustration of the antients, it was a 
fortunate circumstance to Dr. Turner, that he had an opportunity of 
attending the lectures of Lucas Gkinus, at Bologna, of whom he speaks 
t in his “ Herbal ” with great satisfaction; and frequently cites his 
authority against other commentators. Ghinus was the first who erected 
a separate professorial chair for botanical science ; from whence he gave 
lectures on Dioscorides, which he continued for twenty-eight years with 
great applause. He procured the physic-garden to be founded at Bologna, 
to demonstrate the plants he spoke of. He was the preceptor of 
Caesalpinus and Anguillara, who became two of the soundest critics in 
the knowledge of plants that the age produced. Turner resided a con¬ 
siderable time at Basil, from which place, in 1568, he dates the dedication 
of his book “ On the Baths of England and Germany.” During his 
residence in Switzerland, he contracted a friendship with Gesner, and 
afterwards kept up a correspondence with him. 
At the accession of Edward VI. he returned to England, was incor¬ 
porated Doctor of Physic at Oxford, was appointed physician to Edward, 
Duke of Somerset, and, as a divine, was rewarded with a Prebendary of 
York, a Canonry of Windsor, and the Deanery of Wells. He speaks of 
himself in the third part of his Herbal, when treating on the herba 
Britannica, which he took to be the Bistort, as having been physician to 
the “ Erie of Embden, Lord of East Friesland.” In 1551, he published 
| the first part of his history of plants, which he dedicated to the Duke, 
his patron. His zeal in the cause of the reformation, which he had 
amply testified by several religious tracts, induced him to retreat to the 
i continent, during the whole reign of Mary. At her decease, Queen 
j Elizabeth reinstated him in all his church preferments. In the dedication 
of the compleat edition of his “Herbal” to the queen, in 1568, after 
| complimenting her majesty on account of her skill in the Latin language, 
: and the fluency with which she conversed in it, he acknowledges with 
gratitude her favours in restoring him to his benefices, and in other ways 
protecting him from troubles ; having, at four several times, granted him 
the great seal for these purposes. He seems to have divided his time 
between his deanery, where he had a botanical garden, of which fre- , 
quent mention is made in his “ Herbal,” and his house in Crutchcd j 
Friers, London. He also speaks of his garden at Kew. “ From the re¬ 
peated notices he takes of the plants in Purbeck, and about Portland,” 
says Dr. Pulteney, “ I should suppose he must have had some intimate 
connections in Dorsetshire.” 
Dr. Turner was one of the best naturalists of his era, but we must pass 
over his works on the constituents of the mineral springs of Bath, 
Germany, and Italy, nor must we be tempted to dwell upon his writings 
relative to birds and fish, nor upon his theological writings, nor upon 
those relative to plants, until we come to his chief work, for there is no 
doubt that he demonstrates in that volume that he was the first of our 
nation who really possessed a knowledge and critical judgment of 
plants. It was printed at three different times, in folio, with cuts. The 
first part at London, in 1551, under this title, “ A New Herball, wherein 
are contayned the names of herbes in Greeke, Latin, English, Duch, 
Frenclie, and in the Potecaries and Herbaries Latin, with the properties, 
degrees, and natural places of the same gathered.” “ For Steven 
Mierdman.” Lond , 1551. The second part at Cologn, 156*2, during his 
exile in the reign of Mary. With this was reprinted the first part, and 
his “Book on : the Bathes of England and Germany.” In 1568 these 
were reprinted, with the addition of the third part, which bears the follow¬ 
ing title: “The third part of Win. Turner’s Herbal, wherein are con¬ 
tained the herbes, rootes, and fruvtes, whereof is no mention made of 
Dioscorides, Galene, Pliny, and other old authors. Imprinted at Collen, 
by Arnold Birckman, in the year of our Lord 1566.” The dedication, 
however, to the company of surgeons, is dated from Wells, June 24, 
1564. 
Dr. Turner’s “ Herbal” is printed in the black letter, agreeably to the 
general usage of the times, and is embellished with the figures of most 
of the plants he describes. The arrangement is alphabetical, according 
to the Latin names; and, after the description, he frequently specifies 
the places of growth. He is ample in his discrimination of the species, 
as his great object was to ascertain the Materia Medica of the ancients, 
and of Dioscorides in particular, throughout the vegetable kingdom. To 
this end he bestows much criticism on the commentaries ot Fuchsius, 
Tragus, Matthiolus, and other of his contemporaries ; and professes to 
have corrected many of their mistakes in the application of the names of 
Dioscorides. In all this he has shewn much judgment, and much mode¬ 
ration, in avoiding, more than usual, the licence taken by many of the 
commentators, of applying the names of plants described in Theophrastus, 
Dioscorides, and Pliny, to those of the western parts of Europe. What 
he says of the virtues of plants he has drawn from the ancients ; but has, 
in numberless instances, given his opinion of their qualities, in oppo¬ 
sition to those sages, and recorded his own experience of their virtues. 
He no where takes any doubtful plants upon trust, but appears to have 
examined them with all the precision usually exercised at a time when 
method, and principles now established, were unthought of; everywhere 
comparing them with the descriptions of the ancients and moderns. He 
first gave names to many English plants ; and, allowing for the time 
when specifical distinctions were not established, when almost all the 
small plants were disregarded, and the Cryptogamia almost wholly over¬ 
looked, the number he was acquainted with is much beyond what could 
easily have been imagined in an original writer on his subject. 
The third part of his “ Herbal,” dated from Welles, June 24, 15fi4, he 
dedicates to the company of surgeons, and apologises for its imperfections: 
“Being so much vexed with sickness, and occupied with preaching, and 
the study of divinity, and exercise of discipline, I have had but small 
leisure to write Herballes.” 
As a brief specimen of this rare work we will extract what he says 
relative to the lettuce. “ Lactuca is called in Greek Thridar, in English 
Lettes or Lettuce, in Dutch Lattich, in French ung Lactue. Lettis is 
of diverse kindes ; one kind is called Lactuca hortensis , and in English 
Garden Lettis ; the other kind is called Lactuca sylvestris, which is called 
in English Green Endive, and this is the herb that the Israelites eat with 
their Passover Lamb. There are divers sorts of Garden Lettes, for one 
is called Lactuca capitata, that is, Cabbage Lettes, because it goeth all 
into one head, as Cabbage Cole doth. Another kind is the common 
Lettes; some kinds have white seed, and other kinds have black seed.” 
He then gives a short description of the plants, and concludes by 
observing of “the properties,” that “The Garden Lettes, which is of a 
cooling nature, is taken to be good for the stomach ; it bringeth sleep, 
sofleneth the belly, and calleth forth milk, but when it is sodden it 
nourisheth more. But they that have an evil stomach were best to take 
it unwashed. Much use of Lettes hurteth the eye-sight; it is laid up of 
some, and seasoned and sauced in brine.” 
We must conclude, and it shall be with expressing a hope that we have 
evinced, despite the detractions of Anthony Wood, that Dr. Turner was 
a consistent Reformer, a strong labourer and patient sufferer for the 
truth’s sake, and well worthy of Ray’s brief character of him, “Turner 
was a man of solid erudition and judgment.” 
Meteorology or the Week. — At Chiswick from observations 
during the last twenty-four years, the average highest and lowest tem¬ 
peratures of these days are 48.3° and 35.4° respectively. The greatest 
heat, 59°, occurred on the 21st in 1833, and the lowest cold, 17°y o n 
23rd, in 1846. During the period, 89 days were fine, and on 79, ram 
fell. 
No. GLXIV», VoL. Vtl. 
