258 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, July 27, 1858. 
“ It was six weeks before he could leave his bed; but as 
soon as he was able to sit up lie became anxious to resume his 
labours ; and, taking leave of our kind friends, we set out on 
a tour through the South of Scotland, visiting every garden 
of consequence on our route, and making notes of all we saw. 
Notwithstanding all he had suffered during his severe illness, 
and the state of weakness to which he was reduced, he ex¬ 
erted himself to see everything; and he was never deterred, 
either by fatigue or wet weather, from visiting every garden 
that he heard contained anything interesting. After tra¬ 
velling about a fortnight, we reached Edinburgh, but Mr. 
Loudon only staid one night; and, leaving Agnes and me 
there, he proceeded on the 13th of August alone to Glasgow, 
on his road to Stranraer, where he was going to lay out the 
grounds at Castle Kennedy, for the Earl of Stair. 
“ On the 1st of September he returned to Edinburgh, which 
of course he found greatly changed since he had resided there 
thirty-seven years before; and for the next fortnight he had 
great pleasure in showing me the places he had known when 
a boy. On the 13th of September, having hired a carriage at 
Edinburgh, we set out on our return home by land; and at 
Newcastle we spent two or three days with our friends Mr. 
and Mrs. Sopwith, where Mr. Loudon was highly gratified 
with the arrangement of Mr. Sopwith’s library, which we 
found a perfect temple of order. 
“ On leaving Newcastle, we travelled through Chcster-le- 
street to Durham, visiting nearly all the fine places in that 
county, particularly Raby Castle; and afterwards we pro¬ 
ceeded to Darlington, where we took the railroad to York. 
We stayed three or four days in this city, and then we re¬ 
turned to London by the railroad. 
“ In December, 1841, appeared the first number of the 
‘ Encyclopiedia of Trees and Shrubs,’ the work consisting of 
ten monthly numbers. The abridgement of the 4 Hortus 
Lignosus Londinensis ’ was published immediately on the con¬ 
clusion of the 4 Encyclopaedia of Trees and Shrubs; ’ and in 
May, 1842, appeared the 4 Fust Additional Supplement to 
the Encyclopaedia of Cottage Architecture.’ 
“ In addition to the works which have been enumerated, 
Mr. Loudon contributed to several others, such as the ‘ En¬ 
cyclopaedia of Domestic Economy,’ and 4 Brande’s Dictionary 
of Science, Literature, and Art.’ He also wrote the article 
4 Planting,’ for the new edition of the 4 Encyclopaedia 
Britannica.’ 
44 Early in March, 1842, he had an attack of inflammation 
of the lungs, and, on his recovery, we went down to Brighton 
for some weeks. We afterwards made a tour through Somerset¬ 
shire, Devonshire, and part of Cornwall; and, on our return 
to Exeter, Mr. Loudon went to Barnstaple, in the neighbour¬ 
hood of which he was about to lay out some grounds for Lord 
Clinton, sending Agnes and myself back to London. When 
he returned home, I noticed that he had a slight cough ; but, 
as it was trifling, it did not make me uneasy, particularly as 
his spirits were good. He now finished his 4 Suburban Hor- 
ticulturist,’ which had been begun two years before, but had 
been stopped on account of his illness in Scotland ; and this 
work was published by Mr. Smith, of Fleet Street, all his 
other works, from the appearance of the 4 Encyclopaedia of 
Gardening,’ having been published by Messrs. Longman. 
In 1843, his time was chiefly occupied by his work on 
4 Cemeteries,’ with which he took extraordinary pains, and 
which was very expensive from the number of the engravings. 
In August, wo were invited to Derby to pay another visit to 
Mr. Strutt, but he was too ill to go, and the doctors pro¬ 
nounced his complaint to be a second attack of inflammation 
of the lungs. 
1 reviously to Mr. Loudon’s illness, I had agreed to write 
a little book on the Isle of Wight, and to visit it for this pur¬ 
pose. This arrangement I now wished to give up ; but his 
medical men advised us to go, as they thought the air of the 
Isle of Wight might re-establish his health. Strange to say, 
up to the time of our leaving home I had no idea that his ill¬ 
ness was at all dangerous ; but the fact was, I had seen him 
recover so often when everyone thought he was dying, that I 
i ad become accustomed to place little reliance on what was 
said of his attacks by others. When we reached the Isle of 
Wight, however, I was struck with a degree of listlessness 
and want of energy about him that I had never seen before, 
lie became rapidly worse while we were in the island, and 
most eager to leave it. On our arrival at Southampton, 
where he was laying out a cemetery, he felt better ; and tak¬ 
ing a lodging there, he sent Agnes and myself back to town. 
In a fortnight I went down to see him, and I shall never 
forget the change I found in him. The first look told me he 
v ' as c v m S* His energy of mind had now returned. He not 
only attended to the laying out of the cemetery at Southamp¬ 
ton but, during his stay in that town, he corrected the proofs 
ot tiie second 4 Supplement ’ to his 4 Encyclopaedia of Agri¬ 
culture, and then went alone to Bath, in spite of my earnest 
entreaties to be permitted to accompany him. At Bath he 
inspected the ground for another cemetery, and also the 
giounds of a gentleman named Binder, though he was obliged 
to be wheeled about in a Bath chair. He then went, still 
alone, to Kiddington, the seat of Mortimer Ricardo, Esq., 
near Lmstone, in Oxfordshire, where he was also obliged to be 
wheeled round the grounds in a chair. When about to leave 
Kiddington he appeared so ill, that Mr. Ricardo offered to 
send a servant with him to town. 
“ He ^^med to Bayswater on the 30th of September, 
18x3, and at last consented to call in medical aid, though he 
was by no means aware of his dangerous state. He supposed, 
indeed, that the pain he felt, which was on the right side, pro¬ 
ceeded from an affection of the liver ; as both times, when he 
had inflammation of the lungs, the pain was on the left side. 
Un the 2nd of October I went with him to call on Mr. Law- 
lOiicc, in whom he had the greatest confidence ; and that gentle¬ 
man told him without hesitation that his disease was in 
Ins lungs. He was then evidently very much struck at 
ns announcement, but as he had the fullest reliance on 
Mr. Lawrence s judgment, he was instantly convinced that he 
\\ as light; and, I think, from that moment he had no hope of 
f r ,r miate rccovei T; though, in compliance with the wishes 
o different friends, he afterwards consulted several other 
eminent medical men, of whom Dr. Chambers and Mr. 
Richardson attended him to the last. 
As soon as Mr. Loudon found that his disease was likely 
to prove fatal, lie determined, if possible, to finish the works 
ho had in hand, and he laboured almost night and day to do 
so. He first, with the assistance of his draughtsman, finished 
a plan for Baron Rothschild; then one for Mr. Ricardo, 
another for Mr. Pinder, and, finally, a plan for the cemetery 
at Rath. He had also engaged to make some additional altera¬ 
tions m the grounds of Mr. Fuller at Streatham, and he went 
there on the 11th of October, but he was unable to go into 
ie garden ; and this was the last time he ever attempted to 
usit any place professionally. He continued, however, to 
walk m the open air in his own garden, and hi the grounds of 
Mr. Hopgood, nurseryman, at Craven Hill, for two or three 
days longer, though his strength was fast decreasing; and 
after the 16th of October, he did not leave the house, but con¬ 
fined himself to his bed-room and a drawing-room on the same 
floor. N otliing could be more awful than to watch him during 
tne few weeks that yet remained of his life. His body was 
rapidly wasting away; but his mind remained in all its 
vigour, and he scarcely allowed himself any rest in his eager¬ 
ness to complete the works that lie had in hand. He was 
particularly anxious to finish his 4 Self-Instruction for Young 
Harc.encrs, which is published nearly in the state he left it, 
lough had he lived it would probably have been carried to a 
much greater extent. About the middle of November, the 
medical men who attended my poor husband, pronounced his 
disease to have become chronic bronchitis ; and this informa¬ 
tion, combined with the pressure of pecuniary difficulties, had 
a povverful effect upon him. He now made an effort that can 
only be estimated by those who know the natural independence 
of fus mind, and the pain it gave him to ask even a trifling 
favour. He wrote a letter stating his situation,.and that the 
sale ox 350 copies of the ‘Arboretum’ would free him from 
all his embarrassments. This letter he had lithographed, 
anc ie sent copies of it to all the nobility who took an in- 
ei m gardening. The result was most gratifying. The 
i Ti ° Uly dated the lst of December, and he died on the 
Itfi of that month ; and yet in that short space of time the 
noblemen lie appealed to, with that kindness which always 
distinguishes the English aristocracy, purchased books to the 
amount of £360. Mr. Loudon had intended to forward 
similar letl ers to all the landed proprietors and capitalists; 
and, though only a few were sent, they were responded to 
