308 
THE COTTAGE GABHENER. 
Januaky 20. 
Hr. Lindley was liorn at Catton, near Norwicli, where 
I liis father, ]\1 r. George Lindley, for many years carried on 
! the business of a nurseryman and seedsman ; but, being 
I unsuccessful in business, be ultimately became foreman 
I to Messrs. Miller and Sweet, of Bristol Nursery, where, 
! no doubt, many of our professional readers knew him 
personally. The early life of the subject of this notice 
was not distinguished by any remarkable occurrence. 
His rudimentary education being obtained in his native 
county, he was subsequently sent to France to prosecute 
the more advanced branches; and, on his return, in 
consequence of his father’s reverses, he was early tin-own 
upon his own resources. These resources were a well- 
stored mind, groat self-reliance, and a ready perception 
of the art of rising. Soon after his return from the 
continent he attracted the notice of Sir Joseph Banks, 
by being engaged in a controversy with Sir James 
Edward Smith, late President of the JJnnaean Society. 
Sir Joseph favoui’ed the opinion of Mr. Lindley, and 
appreciating the ability of the young controversialist, be 
took him under his patronage, and through his influence 
he was employed by the Horticultural Society, to whose 
‘‘Transactions” his father had been a contributor. 
The Horticultural Society having determined, much 
against the wishes of many of its Fellows, to occupy 
an extensive garden, finally arranged, in 1821, for that 
at Chiswick, and the Society is now in possession of 
those thirty-three acres, held upon a lease of sixty years, 
renewable every thirty years for ever, at a rental of 
T800 2 ^er annum, but with power to the Society of 
relinquishing its obligations at any time upon giving 
twelvemonth’s notice. 
j The Garden required for its care a resident staff, and 
I as Assistant Secretary of the Garden we find, in 1822, 
1 Mr. Lindley was for the first time announced as an 
j oflicer of the Society. As holder of that olllce he had 
' to superintend the collection of plants, and all other 
^ transactions in the Garden, besides keeping all accounts, 
and minutes of reports. One of the first of his reports 
j states, that for the completion of various works “ the 
i Council had deemed it expedient to ruisa a loan of 
j TfiOOn, to be liquidated after the rate of £'500 ])er 
I annum out of the Society’s income. Such liquidation 
was rendered impossible by the continued lavish 
expenditure, and, what was worse, the involved state of 
the Society was concealed, even at the expense of false¬ 
hood, by the expressed direction of the Secretary, IMr. 
Sabine. In 1830, deception could go no further without 
I detection, and the truth then burst upon tbe Society, with 
j paralysing certainty, that it w-as indebted no less a sum 
I than £10,751. 
I A Committee of inspection was appointed, and this 
; Committee reported “ that the embarrassments of the 
Society have arisen chiefly from the imprudence of the 
Council in taking a Garden on too large a scale.” In 
eight years nearly £20,000 had been expended upon it! 
'fhe Committee further reported that the Gardener 
was incumbered by the supervision of the Secretary ; 
that dissatislaction existed as to the unfairness and 
partiality shown in distributing seeds and grafts; that 
mere botanical curiosities were too much cultivated; ' 
that defalcations occurred, yet the defaulter w-as re¬ 
tained ; and that there was {i w'ant of courtesy, a 
negligent management, profuse expenditure, ami an i 
injudicious contracting of engagements, without due j 
consideration of the means by which they were to be ; 
fulfilled. i 
Before this explosion took place Mr. Lindley had 
been raised to the post of Assistant Secretary; and he 
wrote as follow's to Mr. Sabine:— 
Acton Green, Friday Eveniny, Feh. 12, 1830. 
“ Sir,—Tt has been impossible for me to misunderstand 
what occurred in the Council to-day. Upon being called into 
their presence, I found that an impression bad been made 
upon them, that certain estimates, prepared by tbe last 
Council, and sent to the Committee, had been first assented 
to by me before the Council, and then dissented from by me 
before the Committee. It is ])ossiblo that this impression 
may h.ave ceased with ray disavowal of the chai-ge, and that ; 
the Council see that no sirch stigma att.acbes to me ; Init this i 
does not satisfy me. I conceive that you, as a gentleman, 
.and professing to be my friend, were bound not to have 
allowed any such impression to have existed, as you must 
have known that I was above suspicion upon such a point. 
You know perfectly well that I have always protested against 
the statements by which the Council have frequently been j 
deluded into sanctioning measures and expenditure, which, | 
had they known the real slate of the Society’s affairs, they i 
could not have countenanced ; and that T was entii’ely opposed ' 
in opinion to the very heads of estimate objected to by the : 
Committee. You know I have always dissented from any i 
higher value than £2000 being pbaced upon the library, i 
drawings, and models, which are estimated in the return to I 
the Committee at £358(b You are ]ierfeclly aware that T re- ; 
monstrated against tbe exaggerated amount of assets in the • 
balance-sheet laid before the Council, and I believe giviai to j 
Lord I'lssex so recently as Jan 22 last; that on account of i 
those exaggerations I did not comply witli your request to | 
put a copy of that document into the bands of IMr. Gordon ; ' 
and that one of my objections to it was the valuing of the j 
Transactions at £!)(j01; tbe infoi’ination I bad obtained at i 
your request was, that they were only worth £1000., as I told \ 
you over and over again ; and, consequently, you must have j 
known that I could not have assented to a statement in which ! 
their value is fixed at X'2000. You could not be ignorant that ! 
I should have objected to £500 being estimated as the value \ 
of the fruit-room and sheds; for you yourself, not a nionili ! 
since, told me that, by the lease, no Imihlings, except the j 
glass-houses at the garden, are the projicrty of tbe Society. ! 
All these things being thus, T think 1 have a right to empiire | 
why you allowed the Council to su]>pose that I had assented 
to their estimates. You may perhaps say that you can ex- i 
plain this to my satisfaction ; but 1 have both seen and heard I 
lately too much of exi)lanations to take them against the | 
evidence of my senses. I see clearly tliat an intrigue is going 
on for the jiurposeof making it appear tlnil I am at one lime . 
allowing inyself to be identified with those miserable pro¬ 
ceedings which have brought the Society to its present state, 
and to which I have been constantly and openly opposed, and 
at another disavowing those proceedings before the Com¬ 
mittee. I have never been a jiarly to the exaggerations of 
the Society’s means, and concealment of the Society’s debts, 
by means of which many honourable and excellent men in 
the Cmtncil have been unfortunately induced to believe a 
ruined Society to be in a state of in-osperity. I hax-fe been 
steadily opposed to the measures by which that ruin lias been , 
brought about; and T do not choose now, at the eleventh 
hour, either to be cajoled into a suppression of my opinions, 
or to allow you to make the world believe that I now, for the 
first time, entertain sentiments adverse to your proceedings. 
That there maybe no farther misconception upon this and 
other points, 1 have written you this letter, a copy of whicli 
1 shall give to all persons whom it is likely to interest. 
“ I am. Sir, Xc., “ John Lindley." 
To this letter the only objection is—and it is a strong 
objection—it ought to have been written years before, 
