small horses, which were provided at the inns at Cobham, to go over the grounds. In the latter part of his life, Mr. Hamilton retired to Bath, having sold his place to Benjamin Bond Hopkins, Esq., who built the present house, the original one being small. (Manning and Bray's Surrey, ii. 768.) Among the trees remaining at Pains Hill are some remarkably fine silver cedars, pinasters, and other pines, American oaks, cork trees, and ilices, a tupelo tree (Nýssa), tulip trees, acacias, deciduous cypress, Lombardy and other poplars, &c. Here some of the first rhododendrons and azaleas introduced into England were planted by Mr. Thoburn, who was gardener to Mr. Hamilton, and who afterwards became an eminent nurseryman at Old Brompton. Bowood was laid out about the same time by the first Marquess of Lansdowne (then Earl of Shelburne), who was assisted by Mr. Hamilton of Pains Hill; and, like that place, it was planted with every kind of foreign tree that could be procured at the time. Many of these trees still remain, and have attained a large size: the cedars and tulip trees are remarkably fine. Woburn Farm, which began to be improved by Mr. Southcote in 1735, belongs to this class of places; and also Strathfieldsaye: the former contains one of the largest liquidambar trees in England, a remarkably fine hemlock spruce, very large tulip trees, acacias, hickories, pines, cedars, and cypresses, and a magnificent cut-leaved alder. At Strathfieldsaye are the largest hemlock spruce in England, some remarkably fine scarlet oaks, a large tupelo tree, and many fine pines and firs. Claremont, planted about the same time by Brown, for Lord Clive, contains a great many exotic trees, particularly cedars of large dimensions. There are very large ilices, cork trees, tulip trees, red cedars, a large hemlock spruce, and many other fine specimens of foreign trees. Oatlands, Ashley Park, and more particularly Lord Tankerville's at Walton, were planted soon after this period, and contain many fine specimens.

Upton House, near Stratford in Essex, was planted by Dr. Fothergill about 1762; and, though many of the shrubs were sold at the doctor's death in 1781, the grounds still contain many large and fine specimens. Of these we had the following measured in January, 1835: Pópulus canadensis, 100 ft. high; P. dilatata, 120 ft. high; Quércus Túrneri, 50 ft. high; Corylus Colúrna, with a trunk 5 ft. in circumference, and forming a very handsome tree which bears abundantly every year; Cupréssus sempervirens horizontàlis, 40 ft. high, a fine specimen; two very large cedars, with trunks 9 ft. in diameter, at 6 ft. from the ground; a large cork tree; Kölreutèria paniculàta, 40 ft. high, perhaps the largest in England; a large robinia, &c. Collinson states that the A'rbutus Andráchne flowered for the first time in this garden, in May, 1766. He adds that the plant was

raised from seeds sent to Dr. Fothergill, by Dr. Russell of Aleppo, in 1756; and that the original plant was sold by auction in August, 1781, after the doctor's death, for 53l. 11s. There appears to be some mistake in this relation, as Dr. Fothergill did not purchase Upton till 1762, and the Arbutus Andráchne was cultivated in 1724. Dr. Fothergill, however, may have raised his plant somewhere else, and removed it to Upton; and, though it was introduced in 1724, it may not have flowered before the period mentioned. Collinson was such a careful observer, that this remark appears due to his memory. Upton House is now in the possession of S. Gurney, Esq.

Purser's Cross was planted by John Ord, Esq., in 1756; and "it is not a little extraordinary," says Lysons, "that this garden should, within the space of little more than fifty years (such have been the effects of good management and a fertile soil), have produced trees which are now the finest of their respective kinds in the kingdom." The following is an account of some of the most remarkable trees at Purser's Cross, as measured by Lysons at three different periods, and for us in Jan. 1835:

Purser's Cross contains a greater number of fine specimens, in a very limited space, than any garden we know of in the neighbourhood of London. In October, 1834, we found there Magnòlia tripétala, acuminata, and other species, of considerable size, Liriodendron Tulipífera; Negundo fraxinifòlium, 40 ft. high; Asimina triloba, 10 ft. high, flowering every year; another plant, which died a few years ago, having ripened fruit every year; Ailántus glandulòsa, 30 ft. high; Gymnocladus canadensis, 30 ft. high; Sophora japónica, 40 ft. high, which flowers every year; Robinia and Gleditschia, very fine specimens; Crataegus, several species, very large; Pyrus Sórbus, very fine specimens ; Céltis,

Juglans, and Populus, very large trees; Quércus of various species, from 40 ft. to 60 ft. high; Quércus coccífera and gramúntia, each 30 ft. high, and considered among the finest specimens in the neighbourhood of London; and Salisburia adiantifòlia, nearly 60 ft. high; Andrómeda arbòrea, 18 ft. high; and deciduous cypresses, from 70 ft. to 80 ft. high. Purser's Cross is now the property of Lord Ravensworth.

Syon was one of the largest monasteries that were suppressed. It was in Henry VIII.'s hands at his death; and his funeral procession, which is said to have exceeded in magnificence anything of the kind either before or since, was rested a night at Syon on its way to Windsor. King Edward VI. granted Syon to Edward Duke of Somerset, who built the shell of the present mansion. He had a botanic garden there, mentioned by Turner (who was his physician) in his Herbal. In 1604, we find Syon House in the possession of Henry Earl of Northumberland, who had laid out 9000l. on the house and gardens. The house was afterwards greatly enlarged and improved by Inigo Jones, in 1659. The grounds at Syon are generally understood to have been laid out in their present form by Brown, between 1750 and 1760. They were planted with all the foreign hardy trees and shrubs that could be procured, at that time, in the London nurseries; and the place now contains many very fine old specimens of cedars, pines, planes, gleditschias, robinias, catalpas, and more especially of deciduous cypress.

George William, sixth Earl of Coventry, succeeded to the title, and to the estate of Croome d'Abitot, in the year 1738, being then 17 years of age. He soon afterwards, with the assistance of Brown, began to improve the estate, at that time "a mere bog, and a barren waste" (Dean's Croome Guide, 1824, p. 37.), and soon converted it into fertile soil, and planted it with all the useful and ornamental trees and shrubs at that time to be procured in the nurseries. The plants have grown with astonishing vigour, and there is now at Croome an extensive collection of species, containing some of the finest specimens of foreign trees and shrubs in the country.

Numerous gentlemen's seats, planted about this time in every part of England, might be cited as containing fine old specimens of foreign trees and shrubs; but we must limit ourselves to a few which took a lead in this taste. Among these may be mentioned, in addition to those already noticed, Busbridge, near Godalming, in Surrey, in 1751, in the possession of Philip Carteret Webb, Esq., and frequently mentioned by Miller; Mount Edgecombe, Earl of Mount Edgecombe; Mamhead, now belonging to W. Newman, Esq.; Powderham Castle, Earl of Devon; High Clere, Earl of Caernarvon; and Chiswick, Duke of Devonshire. There are, doubtless, many places as much or more worthy of

being quoted than several of those named; but, as we have invited all proprietors and gardeners in the British Isles to send us accounts of their foreign trees and shrubs for this work, and as many of these have done so, we must refer in this place to the paragraph headed Statistics, given to each tree and shrub; where, under each county, will be found the names of all those seats most remarkable for foreign trees and shrubs, with the dimensions and other particulars of the plants they contain.

Several botanic gardens were formed during this century, both at home and abroad; and the exchange of seeds and plants which takes place universally among such establishments increased the foreign productions of each respective country. It also became the practice, in the latter part of this century, for private persons and public bodies to send out botanical collectors. Several of these were sent out from the Royal Gardens at Kew, others by the subscriptions of individuals, and some by nurserymen.

Chelsea Garden (already noticed, p. 47.) is said by Collinson to have been, in his time, the richest in plants in Europe. It was brought to the highest degree of eminence during this century by Miller. Its origin is unknown: the first notice of it, in the books of the Apothecaries' Society, is in 1674, when it was proposed to wall it round; and two years afterwards, in 1676, the Society agreed to purchase the plants growing in Mrs. Cape's garden at Westminster. They may probably also have had plants from the garden mentioned in Evelyn's Diary for 1658 as "the medical garden at Westminster, well stored with plants, under [Edward] Morgan, a skilful botanist." Piggot is the name of the first curator of the Chelsea Garden, noticed in 1676. Watts, mentioned both by Ray and Evelyn, was an apothecary by profession, but undertook the care of the garden in 1680, at 50% per annum. Miller was appointed to the garden in 1722, at the time Sir Hans Sloane, when applied to for a renewal of the lease of the garden, granted it to the Society in perpetuity, at a rental of 51. per annum, and on condition that specimens of fifty new plants should annually be furnished to the Royal Society, till the number amounted to two thousand, that number, at that time, being supposed likely to exhaust the botanical riches of the whole world. Miller resigned his situation as curator, a short time before his death in 1771, and was succeeded by Forsyth, who left it to become royal gardener at Kensington in 1784, and was succeeded by Fairbairn, who died in the garden in 1814. His situation is now filled by Mr. William Anderson, F.L.S. H.S., &c., who has greatly enriched the garden, and contributed materially to its present high character.

The botanic garden at Kew was established in 1760 by the Princess Dowager of Wales. A catalogue was published in 1768 by Dr. Hill; and a more scientific one by Mr. William Aiton in 1789, a second edition of which appeare din 1810. William Aiton died in 1793, aged 62. He was some time assistant to Philip Miller, at Chelsea, and was recommended to the princess dowager in 1759. In 1783 he was appointed to the care of the pleasure-grounds and kitchen-garden at Kew. The Aitònia is named after him. He was succeeded by his son, Wm. Townsend Aiton, the present royal gardener there. is more especially interesting to the planter of trees, from its arboretum having been one of the very first that was formed in Britain; and, though many of the species are now lost, and it does not contain more than a fourth part of what are to be found in the Horticultural Society's garden and in the arboretum of the Messrs. Loddiges, there are still existing there many fine specimens. Dr. James Sherard's botanical garden at Eltham, in which he was assisted by Dillenius, was established in the first years of this century, but declined at Dr. Sherard's death in 1737; and, in 1795, nothing remained of it but a fine cedar of Lebanon close to the house, and a few other trees and shrubs. This cedar measured, at the above period, 9 ft. in circumference, at 3 ft. from the ground; and in 1801 it had increased in circumference 6 inches. (Lysons.) Dr. James Sherard was the brother of Dr. William Sherard, an eminent botanist, and author of several works, who was travelling tutor for many years to several English noblemen, and afterwards British consul at Smyrna, near which he had a fine country house and garden, from which he sent home many seeds and plants. This brother founded the botanical professorship at Oxford, and gave to that establishment his botanical library, and his herbarium. He was the patron of Mark Catesby and of Dr. Dillenius.

Mr. William Curtis, author of the Botanical Magazine, first established a small botanic garden at Bermondsey. In 1771 he formed one on a more extensive scale at Lambeth Marsh. In 1789 he removed his plants to Brompton, where he died in 1799, aged 53 years. His partner, and successor, Mr. William Salisbury, removed this garden to Cadogan Place, Sloane Street, where an arboretum was planted, and the grounds are now (1835) occupied as a subscription garden and as a nursery.

A private botanic garden was founded at Twickenham about 1789, by William Swainson, the proprietor of some popular vegetable medicines. It contained every tree and shrub that could be procured at the time in the British nurseries, and was kept up in the very first style of order and neatness till Mr. Swainson's death in 1806. It is now the property of Mrs. Canham, and is managed by Mr. Robert Castles, an enthusiastic lover of plants, and an excellent man.