THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
February 26 . 
32S 
to draw them, and obtained chemical analyses of their 
| various products. His portfolios of flowering plants, sketched 
I from those in his own conservatories, were very valuable, 
and served to promote science, and diffuse the love of 
! horticulture. He was truly a patron of the art; and the 
talented jmesident of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph Banks, 
writing of Dr. Fotliergill and his gardens, says—“ At an 
expense seldom undertaken by an individual, and with an 
ardour that was visible in the whole of his conduct, he pro¬ 
cured from all parts of the world a great number of the 
rarest plants, and protected them in the completest buildings 
which this or any other country has seen. He liberally 
proposed rewards to those whose circumstances or situations 
in life gave them opportunities of bringing hither plants 
which might be ornamental, and probably useful, to this 
country, or her colonies, and as liberally paid these rewards 
to all who served him. If the troubles of war had per¬ 
mitted, we should have had the Cortex Winteranvs , &c., &c., 
introduced by his means, and also the bread-fruit, mango- 
steen, &c., into the West Indies. For each of these, and 
many others, he had fixed premiums.” Sir Joseph, after 
enumerating the various means he adopted to procure 
specimens, and the success attending them, further remarks, 
“ In my opinion, no other garden in Europe (except Kew), 
royal or of a subject, had nearly so many scarce and valu¬ 
able plants. That science might not suffer a loss when a 
plant he had cultivated should die, he liberally paid the best 
artist the country afforded to draw the new ones as they 
came to perfection; and so numerous wore they at last, that 
he found it necessary to employ more artists than one, in 
order to keep up with their increase. His garden was known 
all over Europe, and foreigners of all ranks asked, when 
they came hither, permission to see it, of which Dr. Solander 
and myself are sufficient witnesses, from the many ap¬ 
plications that have been made through us for that per¬ 
mission.” 
A beautiful Andrachne, raised from seed sent by Dr. 
Russell, of Aleppo, flowered for the first time in Europe in 
these gardens, and the plant was sold at the owner’s death 
for <£53 11s. But the doctor’s genius was versatile, and his 
collections of shells, minerals, fossils, insects, and other 
objects of natural history, were equalled by few; like his 
plants, they were systematically arranged; and a visit to 
Upton furnished not only a rich treat to the curious observer, 
but a means also of improvement to the scientific student. 
Without doubt, the. most prominent feature in the doctor’s 
character was his benevolence. He was, in the truest sense, 
a philanthropist. Apart from the numerous personal cases 
which he relieved in the course of his medical practice, he 
became a warm supporter of, and liberal contributor to, most 
of our principal public institutions, and even to some abroad. 
With him originated the foundation of Ackworth School, a 
seminary for the children of parents not in affluent circum¬ 
stances among the Society of Friends, of which denomi¬ 
nation he was himself a member. This school still prospers, 
and educates annually about 300 pupils, of both sexes. He 
associated with Howard in the reformation of prisons ; 
laboured to introduce many salutary and sanatory regula¬ 
tions into the city of London—as public baths, cemeteries, 
the better supply of water, food, &c. War and slavery he 
deprecated as national evils, and exerted his influence to sup¬ 
press them. He concerted plans with Dr. Franklin, then a 
plenipotentiary to England from the United States, which they 
presented to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to prevent the im¬ 
pending war with America; and which, had they been adopted, 
would have spared thousands of lives and millions of treasure 
to both countries. In truth, seldom a day passed that did not 
find him engaged in promoting some plan of benevolence, 
or performing some deed of charity. He early discovered 
the truth of the assurance, that “ it is more blessed to give 
than to receive,” and that it was this blessing which fur¬ 
nished him with the means of his liberality. It deserves to 
be mentioned, that when Dr. Knight, librarian of the British 
Museum, fell into pecuniary difficulties, 'owing to some 
mining speculations in which he had engaged, he waited in 
his distress upon Dr. Fothergill, to whom by reputation 
he was known, and stated the sum of which he stood in 
need, adding, that it would be the means of rendering him 
completely happy; the Doctor smilingly observed, that “ he 
would then make him so,” and he drew him a cheque for 
1000 guineas! Jeremy Taylor quaintly remarks, that 
“ liberality should have banks as well as a stream ; ” with 
Dr. Fothergill it had banks, but the stream was deep and 
wide. It is stated upon good authority, that during the last 
40 years of his life, he gave away in charity ,£3000 annually! 
As a writer, Dr. Fothergill was not conspicuous ; he wrote 
several medical treatises, two or three biographical notices, 
and contributed various papers of public interest to the 
periodicals of the day; and he was a member of most of 
our leading scientific and philosophical institutions, as also 
of some foreign ones. He continued his medical practice 
with uninterrupted success till 1778, when disease obliged 
him to give up part of it, and he finished his useful life 
December 26th, 1780, aged 68. His remains were interred 
at Winchmore Hill, 12 miles from town; seventy carriages 
followed in procession, and a considerable number of his 
friends and the public were present on the occasion.—S. P„ 
Rushmere. 
In addition to the foregoing, we derive the following from 
another source :—“ Some time before his death he had been 
industrious to contiive a method of generating and pre¬ 
serving ice in the West Indies. He was the patron of Sidney 
Parkinson, and drew up the preface prefixed to his account 
of the voyage to the South Seas. At his expense also was 
made and printed an entire new translation of the whole 
Bihle, from the Hebrew and Greek originals, by Anthony 
Purver,* a Quaker, in 2 vols., 1764, fol., and also, 1780, an 
edition of Dean Percy’s Key to the New Testament, adapted 
to the use of a seminary of young Quakers, at Ackworth, 
near Leeds, in Yorkshire, founded in 1778 by the Society, 
who purchased, by a subscription, in which Dr. Fothergill 
stood foremost, the house and an estate of 30 acres, which 
the Foundling Hospital held there, but which they found 
inconvenient for their purpose on account of distance. The 
Doctor himself first projected this on the plan of a smaller 
institution of the same kind at Gildersomes. He also en¬ 
dowed it handsomely by his will. The fortune which Dr. 
Fothergill had acquired was immense; and, taking all t hin gs 
together, the house and moveables in Harpur Street, the 
property in Essex, the estate in Cheshire (which he held on 
a lease), and his ready money, the computation must be 
£80,000. His business, when he was in full practice, was 
calculated at near £7,000 per annum. In the influenza of 
1775 and 1776, he is said to have had sixty patients on 
his list daily, and his profit was estimated at £8,000 per 
annum." 
* This man deserves to be added to the list of unlearned mechanics, 
who by dint of application have acquired a knowledge of the learned 
languages, beginning with the Hebrew, and proceeding to the Greek and 
Latin, He was bred a shoemaker, with a serious turn and desire of en¬ 
quiring into the religious sentiments he had imbibed in his youth. This 
work is said to have cost the Doctor not less than ^2,000. 
Numerous letters addressed to the late Mr. Forsyth, 
of the Royal Gardens, have recently been discovered. 
They are from Sir Joseph Banks, and many other 
distinguished scientific characters, and are full of in¬ 
teresting information. Their owner has most kindly 
placed them at our disposal, and we hope immediately 
to commence their publication in these pages. 
Our request for information relative to horticultural 
implements, lias brought several communications rela¬ 
tive to Garden Scrapers, from which we have selected 
the two following :— 
“ Who likes to see a garden-walk smothered with clods 
and dirt? It must be so, however, unless, on emerging 
from the quarters, one can scrape one’s shoes. A kind 
neighbour is a great lover of his garden, which when I was 
looking over last spring, among other things I observed, 
lying prostrate on the border, a scraper! A loan of that 
