257 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, July 27, 1858. 
Nothing, however, could stop him in the performance of what 
he considered his duty ; and, indeed, I believe his eagerness to 
see his mother overpowered every other feeling. It was also a 
singular circumstance, that, on his return to Edinburgh after 
an absence of nearly thirty years, he should be obliged to pass 
through it almost without stopping; yet such was the case, as 
we found on our arrival at the inn that a packet was just about 
to sail for London, and that if we did not avail ourselves of it 
we should be compelled to wait several days. We, therefore, 
hurried down to the pierj and, finding that the captain of the 
vessel was just going on board; we hired a boat, and were 
1 luckily in time to save our passage. We had a very quick 
i Voyage, and arrived at Bayswater about half an hour after the 
letter we had sent from Glasgow to announce that we were 
coming. Mr. Loudon’s mother was so delighted to see her 
son, that she seemed partially to revive; so much, indeed, 
that we had hopes of her recovery. Nature, however, was too 
far exhausted, and she died about six weeks after our return, 
in October, 1831. 
“ In 1832, Mr. Loudon commenced his ‘ Encyclopaedia of 
Cottage, Farm, and Yilla Architecture,’ which was the first 
work he ever published on his own account; and in which I 
was his sole amanuensis, though he had several draughtsmen. 
The labour that attended this work w r as immense; and for 
several months he and I used to sit up the greater part of every 
j night, never having more than four hours’ sleep, and drinking 
strong coflee to keep) ourselves awake. The ‘ First Additional 
Supplement ’ to the ‘ Hortus Britannicus ’ was also prepared 
and published in 1832. 
“ The great success of the ‘Cottage Architecture,’ which is, 
perhaps, the best and most useful of all Mr. Loudon’s works, 
! tempted him to publish the £ Arboretum Britannicum 5 also 
, on his own account. He had long intended to write a -work 
' on the hardy trees of Great Britain; but he did not contem- 
: plate the expenses which he should incur by so doing. When, 
however, the ‘Arboretum’ was once begun, he found it was 
| impossible to compress it into the limits originally intended ; 
5 and, in his determination to make the work as perfect as 
possible, he involved himself in the difficulties which hastened 
liis death. Notwithstanding the immense labour attending 
the ‘ Arboretum,’ which was published in monthly numbers, 
Mr. Loudon, in March, 1834, began ‘ The Architectural 
! Magazine, the first periodical devoted exclusively to architec- 
ture; though, like ‘The Magazine of Natural History,’ and 
‘ The Gardener’s Magazine,’ it only served as a pioneer to clear 
the way for others, which afterwards followed in the same 
; course with much greater success. 
“ From the year 1833, to Midsummer, 1838, Mr. Loudon 
underwent the most extraordinary exertions both of mind and 
body. Having resolved that all the drawings of trees for the 
‘Arboretum’ should be made from nature, he had seven 
artists constantly employed, and he was frequently in the open 
air with them from his breakfast at seven in the morning till 
ho came home to dinner at eight in the evening, having re¬ 
mained the whole of that time without taking the slightest re¬ 
freshment, and generally without even sitting down. After 
dinner he resumed the literary part of the work, and continued 
i writing, with me as his amanuensis, till two or three o’clock 
! in the morning. His constitution was naturally very strong; 
but it was impossible for any human powers to bear for any 
lengthened period the fatigue he underwent. In 1836, lie 
began ‘ The Suburban Gardener,’ which was also published in 
! monthly numbers, so that he had five monthly works going on 
! at the same time. He soon found, however, that three monthly 
| works, besides the ‘ Arboretum,’ were as much as his health 
! would permit him to undertake the management of, and he 
| disposed of ‘The Magazine of Natural History,’ to Mr. 
Charlesworth. In 1838, he also gave up the ‘ Architectural 
Magazine,’ and at Midsummer in that year he finished the 
‘ Arboretum Britannicum.’ He was now in circumstances 
that would have discouraged almost any person but himself. 
His health was very seriously injured, partly by what was sup¬ 
posed to be a liver complaint, and partly by an enormous 
swelling in his right knee, which some of the most eminent 
medical men in London supposed to be produced by a disease 
in the bone. In addition to the large sums in ready money 
he had paid to the artists and other persons employed during 
the progress of the ‘ Arboretum,’ he found at its conclusion 
that he owed ten thousand pounds to the printer, the stationer, 
and the wood-engraver, who had been employed on that work. 
His creditors, however, did not press him for their money, but 
gave him a chance of reaping the benefit of his labours at 
some future time, by consenting to wait till they were paid by 
the sale of the ‘ Arboretum,’ and the ‘ Cottage Architecture/ 
upon condition that he placed these works in the hands of 
Messrs. Longman, to hold for the creditors till the debt was 
paid. 
“ Notwithstanding the state of his knee, which w r as now 
such that he was unable to walk without assistance, imme¬ 
diately on the completion of the ‘ Arboretum ’ he arranged 
and published his ‘ Hortus Lignosus Londinensis ; and in 
the last number of ‘ The Suburban Gardener,’ which was 
finished about this time, he informed the public that he in¬ 
tended to resume his profession of landscape-gardener, and 
that he would not only go out, but give advice at home, on 
any plans that might be sent to him. To us,- who saw the 
state of his health, this intimation gave the greatest pain, and 
we determined to do everything in our power to prevent the 
necessity of his exerting himself. Two of his sisters learned 
woocl-engraving; and I, having acquired some knowledge of 
plants and gardens during the eight years I had acted as his 
amanuensis, began to write books on those subjects myself. 
In the mean time, he grew so much worse, that we had very 
little hope of his recovery, till he placed himself under the 
care of William Lawrence, Esq.; when that eminent surgeon 
took a different view of the case from w T hat had been before 
entertained, and by his mode of treatment rapidly restored 
him to health. 
“ In 1839, Mr. Loudon began to lay out the Arboretum, so 
nobly presented by the late Joseph Strutt, Esq., to the town 
of Derby. In the same year he published his edition of 
‘ Repton,’ and his ‘ Second Additional Supplement to the 
‘ Hortus Britannicus.’ In 1840, he accepted the editorship of 
The Gardener's Gazette , which, however, lie only retained 
about a year. 
“ In 1840, Mr. Loudon, having a great desire to examine 
some of the trees in the Jar din des Plantes , in order to iden¬ 
tify some of the species of Cratee'gus, went to Paris 3 and, as 
his health was beginning again to decline, I went with him, 
taking with me our little daughter, Agnes, who, from this 
time, was always the companion of our journeys, We went 
by way of Brighton, Dieppe, and Rouen, to Paris, ascending 
the Seine ; and w r e remained in France about two tnonths. 
“When Mr. Loudon left Scotland so abruptly in 1831, he 
promised his friends to return the following year, and, indeed; 
fully intended to do so ; but various circumstances occurred 
to prevent him, and it was not till 1841, that he was able to 
fulfil his engagement. In the summer of that year, however, 
soon after the publication of the ‘ Supplement to the Encyclo¬ 
paedia of Plants,’ Mr. Loudon, Agnes, and myself, went from 
London to Derby, and, after spending a few days with our 
kind and excellent friend, Mr. Strutt, we proceeded through 
Leeds to Manchester. It rained heavily when we arrived at 
Leeds ; but, Mr. Loudon having determined to visit the 
Botanic Garden, we went there in a most awful thunder-storm, 
and the whole of the time we were in the garden the rain 
descended in torrents. We were all wet, and we had no time 
to change our clothes, as on our return to the station, we 
found the last train to Manchester ready to start, and Mr.. 
Loudon was most anxious to proceed thither without delayt 
When we arrived at Manchester, he was far from well ; bu 
notwithstanding, the next morning, though it still rained 
heavily, he insisted upon going to the Botanic Garden. Here 
he increased his cold, and when he returned to the inn he was 
obliged to go to bed. The next morning, however, he would 
go on to Liverpool; and, though he was so ill there that when 
we drove to the Botanic Garden he was unable to get out of 
the coach, and was obliged to send me to look at some plants 
he wished to have examined, he would sail for Scotland that 
night. He was very ill during the voyage, and when we 
landed at Greenock, lie was in a high fever. He persisted, 
however, in going by the railway to Paisley, and thence to 
Crosslee Cottage, where we had promised to spend a lew days 
with our kind friends Mr. and Mrs. W oodhousc. \\ lien we 
arrived there, however, he was obliged instantly to go to bed. 
A doctor was sent for, who pronounced his disease to be a 
bilious fever, and for some time his life appeared in great 
danger. 
