1805.] 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
Of BoTaNy, and the BROMPTON BO0- 
TANIC GARDEN. 
6¢ Ne fuccumbe malis; te noverit ultimus 
Ifter, 
Te Boreas gelidus.” 
\ X YHILE the northern regions con- 
ftituted one immenfe foreft, in 
which a few barbarous hordes ftruggled 
for a divided empire with beafts of prey, 
the fouthern and more genial climates ex- 
hibited undoubted proofs of early civili- 
zation. But, although the Mufes were 
there courted with fuccefs, and poetry, as 
well as many of the arts which either 
adorn or render life comfortable, were 
cherifhed, yet fome branches of fcience 
appear to have been long neglected. 
Whole ages elapfed, before natural hiftory 
made any profitable advances; and the 
technical part of one interefting portion 
of it—what relates to the lucid order and 
fyftematical arrangement of plants—was 
not fully completed until a very recent 
epoch, when a Swede, born on the confines 
of the arétic circle, firft gave leflons, and 
then laws, to all the fcientific men in 
Europe. 
Theophraftus has been ufually confi- 
dered the father of botany among the 
Greeks; Pliny among the Romans. 
Brunfels, Boffe, Fuchs, claim the honour 
of reviving the ftudy of it in the fixteenth 
century; the merits of Conrad Gefner 
are not unknown toany lover of the {cience ; 
our own countrymen, Morifon and Ray, 
were the firft authors of modern fyftems ; 
Tournefort rendered himfelf celebrated by 
his new mode of claffification: but it was 
referved for Linnzus, (originally intended 
to be a village paftor, then deftined by 
the freaks of fortune to become the ap- 
prentice of a cobler,) to rife, fuperior to 
every obftacle, and become the legiflator 
of botany. 
England was not backward in encou- 
raging this interefting purfuit. It has 
already been obferved, that two inhabit- 
ants of this country :faw the neceflity of 
forming a regular fy{tem; while, if we 
are to give credit to no mean authority*, 
a third+ actually difcovered that path,, 
which afterwards condufied the great 
northern naturalift to the temple of fame. 
The names of Sloane and of Miller, 
of Sir John Hill and of Lord Bute, are 
enrolled among thofe who at once encou- 
raged and cultivated botany here, at a 
* Lifeof Linnzus, by D. H. Stoever, Ph.D. 
t Sir Thomas Millington, Profeflor at Ox- 
for, 
Of Botany, and the Brompton Botanic Garden. 
4.53 
former period. Our extenfive commerce 
has fince enabled us to enrich the cabinets 
of the curious with a multitude of fine 
{pecimens, and the coafts of Malabar and 
Coromandel, as well as the newly difco- 
vered iflands of the fouthern hemifvhere, 
have poured the treafures of natural hifq 
tory into the lap of Britain. Societies 
with this, folely and exprefsly for their 
object, have alfo been formed ; the Lin- 
nan fyftem has been taught at our uni- 
verfities ; and plants have been carefully 
diftributed, in conformity to the infiruc- 
tions of the great matter. 
But while nearly all the great cities of 
Europe poffeffed gardens, in which the 
ftudent could learn the principles of his 
art, and ftrangers of every defcription 
might fatisfy a laudable curiofity, it was 
found that London, fo celebrated in the 
annals of fcience, and fo well calculated 
in every other refpeét for its promotion, 
was eminently deficient in this point of 
view. Paris, Madrid, and Upial, already 
pofleffed inftitutions of this kiad, while 
the metropolis of a» great empire could 
only boaft of a fmall portion of ground, 
bequeathed by Sir Hans Sloane to the 
Apothecary’s company, and deftined by 
it folely for the ufe of pupils in pharmacy. 
At length, a private individual attempt. 
ed to effect, in this country, what could 
only be achieved in others, by the reitera- 
ted efforts of roval munificence. The 
perfon to whom we allude, was the lace 
Mr. Curtis, who, like many eminent 
botanifts, both abroid and at home, 
united a knowledge cf medicine with that 
of plants. 
Affited by the patronage of two re- 
{peétable men, (che Hon. Daines Barring. 
ton and Thomas White, efq. both of whom 
have been dead for fome time,) he hired 
a piece of ground, in 1782, at Lambeth 
Marfh, near the Magdalen Hofpital, St. 
George’s Fields, on which he conferred 
the name of ‘* The London Botanic Gar- 
den.” On this occafion, he was prefent- 
ed with many {carce and valuable plants, 
both Britith and foreign, from the royal 
collections at Kew, as well as from thofe 
of the Earl of Bute at Luton, the Duchefs 
Dowager of Portland at Bulftr:de, Dr. 
Fothergill at Upton, Dr. Pitcairn at Ifling- 
ton, and the Apothecary’s Company at 
Chelfea. Notwithiandiag this encou- 
ragement, it appears from the lift of fub. 
{cribers publifhed in 1783, that the number 
amounted to no more than forty ! 
The fituation of the {pot he had chofen, 
was however inconvenient; for although 
from its pofition it appeared peculiariy 
fayour- 
