On the Portraits of English Authors on Gardening Part 4

JOHN READ, "one of the earliest Scotch gardening writers." He wrote "The Scotch Gardener," 1683, 4to. An Edinburgh edition in 8vo. 1766; to which is added, a short Treatise of Forest Trees, by the Earl of Haddington.

J. GIBSON, who wrote A Short Account of several Gardens near London, as viewed in 1681, in vol. xii of the Archaeologia.

T. LANGFORD wrote Plain and Full Instructions to raise all sorts of Fruit Trees that prosper in England; with Directions for making Liquors of all sorts of Fruits; 8vo. 1681. To the second edition, in 1696, is prefixed a very handsome epistle from Mr. Evelyn, in which he says, "As I know nothing extant that exceeds it, so nor do I of any thing which needs be added to it." Also,

The Practical Planter of Fruit Trees; 8vo. 1681. Also, Systemae Agriculturae, being the Mystery of Husbandry Discovered; folio, 1681.

LEONARD MEAGER'S Portrait perhaps we may not be very desirous to discover, when he tells his readers, neither to "sow, plant, nor graft, or meddle with any thing relating to gardening, when the sun or moon is eclipsed, or on that day, nor when the moon is afflicted by either of the unfortunate planets, viz. Mars or Saturn."[36] His English Gardner, in 4to. with cuts, came out in 1683; the ninth edition came out in 1699, 4to.; it contains several clearly pointed plates of knots, or parterres.

Meager also published The New Art of Gardening, with the Gardener's Almanack; 8vo. 1697; and

The Mystery of Husbandry; 12mo. 1699.

The many editions that came out of Meager's English Gardner, sufficiently shews the estimation in which his book was held.

GEORGE LONDON and HENRY WISE, so eminent in their day, that, as a contemporary says, "If the stock of their nurseries at Brompton Park, were valued at one penny a plant, the amount would exceed 40,000. Mr.

Evelyn declares, that we may place the above nursery above the greatest works of that kind ever seen or heard of, either in books or travels."

Mr. Evelyn again calls it "that vast ample collection which I have lately seen, and well considered, at Brompton Park; the very sight of which alone, gives an idea of something that is greater than I can well express. One needs no more than to take a walk to Brompton Park, (on a fair morning) to behold and admire what a magazine these industrious men have provided." The Rev. John Laurence, in his Clergyman's Recreation, willingly attests their skill, integrity, and reputation, "so well established amongst the n.o.bility and gentry."

Mr. London's grateful apprentice, Switzer, thus affectionately and zealously records them in his History of Gardening, prefixed to his Iconologia:--"But now let us look amongst the n.o.bility and gentry, which at this time were every where busied in making and adorning their gardens and plantations. To enumerate and set down the history of gardening in its several particulars in this reign, would require a volume of itself, but will be for the most part summed up in the person and character of _George London, Esq._ Superintendent of their Majesties gardens, and Director-General of most of the gardens and plantations of Great Britain. I am not well enough informed, neither is it material I should go back to the birth and education of this eminent gardener; his industry and natural parts soon and sufficiently recommended him to the n.o.bility and gentry, that he was _courted and caressed by all_; so true it is, _That the gifts of nature are much more valuable than those of original birth and fortune, or even learning itself_. And to the eternal honour of the present age be it spoken, never was virtue, laudable industry, nor art more encouraged, of which the person we are here speaking of is an undeniable instance. I shall content myself therefore to find him under the care and instruction of Mr. _Rose_ (whose character has been already drawn). The early and vigorous appearances he made in business were soon discovered by his master, who spared no pains, nor hindered him of any liberty, whereby he might improve himself. After he had been with him about four or five years, he sent him (if I am right informed) into France, the great seat of learning at that time in the world, especially in the errand he went about. Soon after he returned, he was preferred to the Bishop of London's service before-mentioned; and, in a few years more, he (with his a.s.sociates) entered on that great undertaking of Brompton Park; and upon the Revolution, was made superintendant of all their Majesties gardens, for which he had 200. a year, and a Page of the Back Stairs to Queen Mary.

Mr. London and Mr. Wise being joined partners, and thus, as it were, both possessed of the royal favour, and the purses of the king, queen, and n.o.bility, left no stone unturned to carry on their designs. Soon after the peace of Reswyck, Mr. London took another journey into France, with the Right Honourable the Earl of Portland, that was sent, by King William, Amba.s.sador-Extraordinary on that occasion; and then it was that he made those observations on the fruit gardens at Versailles, which are published in the preface to their abridgement. After the death of the Queen, and not many years after her the King, their royal successor, Queen Anne, of pious memory, committed the care of her gardens in chief to Mr. Wise, Mr. London still pursuing his business in the country. It will perhaps be hardly believed in time to come, that this one person actually saw and gave directions once or twice a year in most of the n.o.blemen's and gentlemen's gardens in England. And since it was common for him to ride fifty or sixty miles in a day, he made his northern circuit in five or six weeks, and sometimes less; and his western in as little time; as for the south and east, they were but three or four days' work for him; most times twice a year visiting all the country seats, conversing with gentlemen, and forwarding the business of gardening in such a degree as is almost impossible to describe. In the mean time his colleague managed matters nearer home with a dexterity and care equal to his character; and in truth they have deserved so much of the world, that it is but common justice to transmit their memory to ages to come. To speak more particularly of the knowledge Mr. London was supposed to be master of in this matter, the little opportunity he had in laying a foundation of learning, was, without doubt, a great obstruction to his progress in occult philosophy, which is involved in so many hard terms; this, nevertheless, he overcame purely by industry; and what he wanted in one, he abounded with in the other. He was perfectly well skilled in fruit, which seemed to be his master-piece; as for other parts, as greens, trees, flowers, exoticks, and the like, he certainly had as much knowledge as any one man living; and though he might not come up to the highest pitch of design always, yet that might be attributed to the haste he was generally in; and it can be no great blemish to his character, that he was not the greatest person in every thing, when it is surprising to find he could possibly know so much; so great a surprise indeed, that we must hardly ever expect his equal, much less any one that will exceed him. The planting and raising of all sorts of trees is so much due to this undertaking, that it will be hard for any of posterity to lay their hands on a tree in any of these kingdoms, that have not been a part of their care. Mr. London, by his great fatigues in heat and cold, notwithstanding naturally of a healthy, strong const.i.tution, was at last seized with an illness, which carried him off after a few months' sickness. I shall take no other notice of him than what relates to my purpose in gardening, in which he has left a laudable example to all that shall have the encouragement to enter, and the courage and strength to perform what he did. He died towards Christmas in the year 1713."

In the preface to his Iconologia, he again mentions them:--"Had their leisure been equal to their experience, the world might from them have reasonably expected the compleatest System of Gardening that any age or country has produced. It is to them we owe most of those valuable precepts in gardening now in use, and their memory ought to be transmitted to posterity, with the same care as those of the greatest and most laborious philosophers and heroes, who by their writing and practice have deserved so well of the world."

He again mentions his old master, Mr. London:--"In fine, he was the person that refined the business and pleasure of kitchen and fruit gardens to a pitch beyond what was ever till that time seen, and more than was thought possible for one man ever to do; and (till the succession of two eminent persons in these kingdoms, who have very much outstript him) has not had his fellow in any century that history gives us account of."

Switzer, speaking of Dr. Compton, Bishop of London, says, "He was a great encourager of Mr. London, and probably very much a.s.sisted him in his great designs. This reverend father was one of the first that encouraged the importation, raising and increase of exoticks, in which he was the most curious man in that time, or perhaps will be in any age. He had above one thousand species of exotick plants in his stoves and gardens."

No monument has, I believe, been erected to Mr. London's memory, deservedly eminent and esteemed as he was in his day, _courted and caressed by all_, nor can I find out even where he was born or buried.

If one could obtain a resemblance of him, one hopes his Picture, or his Bust, may not deserve the censure of our n.o.ble poet:

What is the end of fame? 'tis but to fill A certain portion of uncertain paper;

To have, when the original is dust, A name, a wretched _picture_, and worse _bust_.[37]

The two following works were published by them:--

The Complete Gardener, &c. by Mons. de la Quintinye. Now compendiously abridged, and made of more use; with very considerable Improvements. By George London and Henry Wise. To which is prefixed, An Address to the n.o.bility and Gentry, by J. Evelyn, Esq.; folio, 1693; octavo, 1699, 1717. Seventh edition in 1719. There is a curious plate of a garden prefixed, and two neat ones at page 22. There are also other cuts. Mr.

Evelyn wrote this Address purposely to recommend their "extraordinary and rare industry." And he also wrote the Preliminary Discourse to that part which relates to Fruit-trees, wherein he thus breaks out:--"Let us but take a turn or two in a well-contrived and planted garden; and see what a surprising scene presents itself in the vernal bloom, diffusing its fragrant and odoriferous wafts, with their ravishing sweets; the tender blossoms curiously enamelled; the variously-figured shapes of the verdant foliage, dancing about, and immantling the laden branches of the choicest fruit; some hiding their blushing cheeks; others displaying their beauties, and even courting the eye to admire; others the hand to gather, and all of them to taste their delicious pulps. Can any thing be more delightful, than to behold an ample square (in a benign aspect) tapestried and adorned with such a glorious embroidery of festoons, and fruitages, depending from the yielding boughs, pregnant with their offspring, and pouring forth their plenty and store, as out of so many Amalthean horns? Some tinctured with the loveliest white and red; others an azurine-purple; others striped with an incarnadine, as over a tissue of vegetable gold. Colours of an oriency, that mock the pencil of the most exquisite artist; and with which their native beauty, perfume, fragrancy, and taste, gratify and entertain more senses at once, than does any sublunary object in all unvitiated nature besides."

Their other Work was thus announced in one of the original numbers of the Spectator, which came out in small folio weekly numbers, and a portion of each number was appropriated to advertis.e.m.e.nts. It was thus advertised in that of May 5th, 1711:--"The Retired Gardener. Vol. i.

Being a Translation of Le Jardinier Solitaire; or, Dialogues between a Gentleman and a Gardener: containing the methods of making, ordering, and improving a fruit and kitchen garden; together with the manner of planting and cultivating flowers, plants, and shrubs, necessary for the adorning of gardens, &c. Vol. ii. containing the manner of planting and cultivating all sorts of flowers, plants, and shrubs, necessary for the adorning of gardens; in which is explained, the art of making and disposing of parterres, arbours of greens, wood works, arches, columns, and other pieces and compartments usually found in the most beautiful gardens of country seats. The whole enriched with variety of Figures, being a Translation from the Sieur Louis Liger. To this volume is added, a Description and Plan of Count Tallard's Garden, at Nottingham. The whole revised by George London and Henry Wise. Printed for Jacob Tonson, at Shakspeare's Head, over against Catherine-street in the Strand." This book, after giving the mode of culture of most flowers, generally gives what the author calls _its history_. I will merely give its history of one flower:--"On a day when they were keeping holiday in heaven, Flora summoned all the deities that preside over gardens, and, when they were met, addressed herself to them in this manner: 'You, who have always been the shining ornaments of my court, I have now called together, to consult in a matter of great importance. I know I am the sovereign of all the flowery kind; but for the more firm establishment of my empire, I am thinking to choose them a Queen of a spotless and unblemished reputation; but will do nothing of this nature without your counsel and a.s.sistance.' To these words, all the deities that were present, having first filled the court with murmurs, answered in this manner: 'Great G.o.ddess, be pleased to reflect a little on the animosities such a choice may create among the rival flowers; even the worthless Thistle will pretend to deserve the crown, and if denied, will perhaps grow factious, and disturb your peaceful reign.' 'Your fears are groundless,' replied the G.o.ddess; 'I apprehend no such consequence; my resolution is already fixed; hear, therefore, what I have determined:--In the deep recesses of a wood, where formerly the oaks were vocal, and p.r.o.nounced oracles to mortals, at the foot of a little hill is a grotto, whose structure is nature's master-piece, there a wood nymph pa.s.sed her quiet days; she was extremely beautiful, and charmed all that beheld her; her looks, her mien, and her behaviour had something of more than human; and indeed she was the daughter of a Dryad, and of a sylvan G.o.d. Her chast.i.ty and devotion equalled her beauty, she was perfectly resigned to the will of heaven, and never undertook any thing without having first implored our a.s.sistance; her heart was pure, and her hands undefiled. This nymph is dead, and my intention is to raise a flower from her precious remains, to be Queen of all the flowery race. The applauding G.o.ds straight prepared for the ceremony; _Priapus_ put on a grave countenance; _Vertumnus_ loaded himself with perfumes of an excellent scent; _Pomona_ heaped up canisters with all sorts of richest fruits; _Venus_ was attended with a train of smiles and graces; _Vesta_ promised wonders; and _Bacchus_ supplied rivers of nectar, and crowned vast goblets with that divine liquor. In this equipage they left their celestial mansions, and repaired to the grotto, where they saw the dead body of the nymph stretched along on a soft couch of turf, and approaching it with profound awe and silence, prepared to pay the sacred rites; and Flora, having thrice bowed herself to the ground, was heard to p.r.o.nounce this prayer:--'Almighty Jupiter, great ruler of the universe, exert thy creating power, and from the dead corpse of this lovely nymph let a plant arise, and bear no less lovely flowers, to be Queen of all thou hast already created.' Scarce had she made an end, when, behold a wondrous change! The nymph's extended limbs were turned into branches, and her hair into leaves; a shrub sprung up, adorned with sprouting buds, which straight unfolding, disclosed a fragrant and vermilion flower; a sudden light filled all the grotto, and the well-pleased G.o.ddess breathed thrice on the new-born babe, to spread it into life, and give it an odorous soul. Then seeing the vegetable Queen adorned with every grace, she kissed her thrice, and, breaking the general silence, revealed her secret joy. 'Approach,' said she, 'at my command, oh, all ye flowers, and pay your grateful homage to your Queen, the ROSE, for that is the name I give her.' Then taking a crown in her hand, that had been made on purpose in heaven, she placed it on the head of the new-made majesty; while to complete the ceremony, the attending G.o.ds sung joyful _Io Paeans_, amidst a symphony of flutes, harps, and all other tuneful instruments, with which the air resounded, while Flora and her bright celestial train ascended back rejoicing into heaven."[38]

JOHN JAMES, who translated Le Blond's "Theory and Practice of Gardening, wherein is fully handled all that relates to fine gardens, commonly called Pleasure-gardens," cuts, 4to. 1712.

M. STEVENSON published in small 4to. 1661, a book called The Twelve Months, being a Treatise on Husbandry and Gardening.

The Rev. HENRY STEVENSON, of East Retford, published "The Young Gardener's Director," 1716, 12mo. He has introduced Mr. Evelyn's advice as to having salads in each month. There is a neat cut of flower-knots, and the frontispiece exhibits a curious old garden. In the preface he says, "not to mention the profit to a family, nothing conduces more to a man's health, especially to one that lives a sedentary life. If these observations and experiments I have made in gardening, be of use to any by drawing him to a way of diversion that will preserve his health, and perhaps put him upon a meditation on the great works of the creation, let him give the Creator the praise." He also published "The Gentleman Gardener Instructed;" eighth edition, 12mo. 1769.

DAVID STEVENSON, in 1746, published in 12mo. The Gentleman Gardener Instructed. Is this the same book as the above?

STEPHEN SWITZER, of whose private history so very little is known, but whose works shew him to have been an honest, una.s.suming, humane, religious, most industrious, and ingenious man. We only know that he had a garden on Milbank, and another _near_ Vauxhall; and that he died, I believe, about 1745. He dates his Letter on the Cythesis, from New Palace Yard, 1730. He was a native of _Hampshire_; for in his Fruit Gardener, speaking of walnut-trees, he says, "The best I ever saw are those that grow upon chalk. Such are those that grow about _Ewell_, near _Epsom_, and in many places of my own native county of _Hampshire_, there being one cut down some few years ago in the Park belonging to the Right Honourable the Lady _Russell_, at _Stratton_, that did spread, at least, fifty yards diameter." He acknowledges, without murmuring, his meanness of fortune, and his having industriously submitted "to the meanest labours of the scythe, spade, and wheel-barrow." He became, however, eminent in his day, and added much to the beauty and magnificence of the gardens of many of our chief n.o.bility and gentry. He wrote a history of the art he so loved, and therefore his cla.s.sic History of Gardening, prefixed to his Ichnographia Rustica, merits the perusal of every one attached to gardens; and paints in strong colours his own devotion to that art; and which he thus concludes:--"In short, next to the more immediate duties of religion, 'tis in the innocency of these employs, thus doing, thus planting, dressing, and busying themselves, that all wise and intelligent persons would be found, when Death, the king of terrors, shall close their eyes, and they themselves be obliged to bid an eternal farewell to these and all other sublunary pleasures;" and he who was thus fond of breathing the sweet and fragrant air of gardens, thus expresses his own (perhaps expiring) wish in the lines of Cowley:

Sweet shades, adieu! here let my dust remain, Covered with flowers, and free from noise and pain; Let evergreens the turfy tomb adorn, And roseate dews (the glory of the morn) My carpet deck; then let my soul possess The happier scenes of an eternal bliss.

He asks "What solid pleasure is there not to be found in gardening? Its pursuit is easy, quiet, and such as put neither the body nor mind into those violent agitations, or precipitate and imminent dangers that many other exercises (in themselves very warrantable) do. The end of this is health, peace, and plenty, and the happy prospect of felicities more durable than any thing in these sublunary regions, and to which this is (next to the duties of religion) the surest path." His attachment to some of our own poets, and to the cla.s.sic authors of antiquity, discovers itself in many of his pages; and his devout turn of mind strongly shines throughout. His allusion to Homer, in vol. iii. page 7, sufficiently shews how ardently this industrious servant, this barrow wheeler, must have searched the great writers of ancient times, to discover their attachment to rural nature, and to gardens. His candid and submissive mind thus speaks:--"If we would, therefore, arrive at any greater perfection than we are in gardening, we must cashiere that mathematical stiffness in our gardens, and imitate nature more; how that is to be done, will appear in the following chapters, which though they may not be, as new designs scarce ever are, the most perfect, it will at least excite some after-master to take pen and pencil in hand, and finish what is here thus imperfectly begun, and this is my comfort, that I shall envy no man that does it. I have, G.o.d be praised, learned to admire, and not envy every one that outgoes me: and this will, I hope, go a great way in making me easy and happy under the pressures of a very narrow fortune, and amidst the ruffles of an ill-natured world. I have tasted too severely of the lashes of man, to take any great satisfaction in any thing but doing my duty."[39] In his devout and magnificent Essay on the Sun, he says, "'tis admirable that this planet should, through so many ages of the world, maintain an uninterrupted course, that in so many thousands of revolving years, it should retain the same light, heat, and vigour, and every morning renew its wonted alacrity, and dart its cherishing beams on these dull and gloomy scenes of melancholy and misery, and yet that so few of us rightly consider its power, or are thankful to Divine Omnipotence for it. The great Roscommon (not greater than good) speaks of it with divine transport, and exhorts mankind to admire it, from the benefits and celestial beams it displays on the world:--

Great eye of all, whose glorious ray Rules the bright empire of the day; O praise his name, without whose purer light Thou hadst been hid in an abyss of night."[40]

Switzer (as appears from the Preface to his Iconologia) was so struck with the business and pleasures of a country life, that he collected, or meant to collect, whatever he could respecting this subject, scattered up and down as they were in loose irregular papers and books; but this work, we regret to say, never made its appearance. That he would have done this well, may be guessed at from so many of his pages recording what he calls "the eternal duration" of Virgil's works, or those of "the n.o.ble and majestic" Milton:--

Flowers worthy of Paradise, which no nice art In beds, and curious knots, but nature boon Pour'd forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain.

Though prim regularity, and "parterres embroidered like a petticoat,"

were in his time in high vogue, yet his pages shew his enlarged views on this subject, and the magnificent ideas he had formed, by surrounding them by rural enclosures, (probably by reading Mr. Addison), perfumed with blossoms, and bespangled with the rich tufts of nature. Nothing, he says, is now so much wanted to complete the grandeur of the British nation, as n.o.ble and magnificent gardens, statues, and water-works; long extended shady walks, and groves, and the adjacent country laid open to view, and not bounded by high walls. The pleasant fields, and paddocks, in all the beautiful attire of nature, would then appear to be a part of it, and look as if the adjacent country were all a garden. Walls take away the rural aspect of any seat; wood, water, and such like, being the n.o.ble and magnificent decorations of a country villa. Switzer calls water the spirit and most enchanting beauty of nature. He is so struck with "the beautifulness and n.o.bleness of terrace walks," and particularly with that truly magnificent and n.o.ble one, belonging to the Right Honourable the Earl of Nottingham, at _Burleigh-on-the-Hill_, that "for my own part I must confess, that that design creates an idea in my mind greater than I am well able to express." In his chapter of "Woods and Groves," he enforces "a particular regard to large old oaks, beech, and such like trees; in which case, one would as soon fire one's house, as cut them down, since it is the work of so many years, I may say ages, to rear them; those ancient trees which our forefathers had all along preserved with much care."[41] In some of the romantic embellishments which he proposed in the midst of a grove, or coppice, he hints at having "little gardens, with caves, little natural cascades and grotts of water, with seats, and arbors of honeysuckles and jessamine, and, in short, with all the varieties that nature and art can furnish." He advises "little walks and paths running through such pastures as adjoin the gardens, pa.s.sing through little paddocks, and corn fields, sometimes through wild coppices, and gardens, and sometimes by purling brooks, and streams; places that are set off not by _nice art_, but by luxury of nature." And again, "these hedge-rows mixed with primroses, violets, and such natural sweet and pleasant flowers; the walks that thus lead through them, will afford as much pleasure, nay, more so, than the largest walk in the most magnificent and elaborate fine garden."[42] He concludes his interesting Chapter of Woods and Coppices, with these lines of Tickell:--

Sweet solitude! when life's gay hours are past, Howe'er we range, in thee we fix at last: Tost thro' tempestuous seas, the voyage o'er, Pale we look back, and bless the friendly sh.o.r.e.

Our own strict judges, our past life we scan, And ask if glory have enlarg'd the span.

If bright the prospect, we the grave defy, Trust future ages, and contented die.

The following appear to have been his works:--

1. The n.o.bleman, Gentleman, and Gardener's Recreation; or an Introduction to Gardening, Planting, Agriculture, and the other Business and Pleasures of a Country Life. By Stephen Switzer; 1715, 8vo. Another edition in 1717, 8vo. The year afterwards, it was published with the following t.i.tle:--

2. Icknographia Rustica; or, the n.o.bleman, Gentleman, and Gardener's Recreation: containing Directions for the general Distribution of a Country Seat into rural and extensive Gardens, Parks, Paddocks, &c.; and a General System of Agriculture; ill.u.s.trated by a great variety of Copperplates, done by the first hands, _from the Author's Drawings_. By Stephen Switzer, Gardener: several years Servant to Mr. London, and Mr. Wise. 3 vols. 8vo.

1718.

3. A Compendious Method for Raising Italian Brocoli, Cardoon, Celeriac, and other Foreign Kitchen Vegetables; as also an Account of Lucerne, St. Foyne, Clover, and other Gra.s.s Seeds, with the Method of Burning of Clay; 8vo. 1729. Fifth edition, 8vo. 1731, 1s.

6d.[43]

4. An Introduction to a General System of Hydrostaticks and Hydraulicks, wherein the most advantageous Methods of Watering n.o.blemen's and Gentlemen's Seats, Buildings, Gardens, &c. are laid down. With Sixty Copper Cuts of Rural and Grotesque Designs for Reservoirs, Cataracts, Cascades, Fountains, &c.; 2 vols. 4to.

1729.[44]

5. A Dissertation on the True Cythesus of the Ancients; 8vo. 1731; 1s. 6d. A cla.s.sic production. At the end, he gives a Catalogue of the Seeds, &c. sold by him at the Flower-pot, _over against the Court of Common Pleas, in Westminster; or at his garden on Millbank_.[45]

6. Country Gentleman's Companion, or Ancient Husbandry Restored, and Modern Husbandry Improved; 8vo. 1732, 1s. 6d.