The total sums on these bills amount to £110. 8s. 9d. for plants, and a few shillings for baskets, with padlocks and hampers to pack them in ;—the travelling expenses being extra. There is also a note on the first bill of £38. from Sir Walter Cope, evidently for trees bought for him at the same time as Lord Salisbury's. " Master Robyns," referred to by Tradescant, was Jean Robin, a famous French botanist (1550-1629) and first curator of the "Jardin des Plantes." He is frequently mentioned by Gerard as " Robinius of Paris." The genus " Robinia " is named after him.

The tombstone of the Tradescant family is still to be seen in Lambeth churchyard, on the N. E. of the chancel, erected in 1662 by the widow of the younger John. The quaint epitaph runs as follows :—

" Know, stranger, ere thou pass, beneath this stone Lye John Tradescant, grandsire, father, son The last died in his spring;—the other two Liv'd till they had travell'd Art and Nature through ; As by their choice collections may appear Of what is rare, in land, in sea, in air. Whilst they (as Homer's I Iliad in a nut) A world of wonders in one closet shut. These famous Antiquarians that had been Both gardeners to the Rose and Lily Queen Transplanted now themselves, sleep here, and when Angels shall with their trumpets waken men And fire shall purge the world, these hence shall rise, And change this garden for a Paradise".

Sir Hugh Platt was supposed to be the most learned man of his time, in soils and manures. He published a work on that subject in 1594, and also The Jewel House of Art and Nature. His work on gardening, which deserves our attention, was printed first in 1600, under the title of The Paradise of Flora and again with the addition of a second part in 1660, with the title, The Garden of Eden. This last edition appeared some time after Platt's death, and was edited "by a kinsman" of his, Charles Bellingham. "That learned and great observer," Sir Hugh Platt, "knight of Lincoln's Inne, gentleman," had a garden of his own, in London, and an estate near St. Albans, and it also appears, from references in his works, that he passed some time at Copt Hall, in Essex, which belonged to Sir Thomas Henneage. He was intimate with all the chief gardeners of his day, and is most conscientious in giving the credit of any piece of information to the friend from whom he learnt it. Thus he frequently refers by name or initial to Mr. Andrew Hill, Mr. Tavener, Mr. Pointer, of Twickenham, Garret, the apothecary, Pigot, the gardener, Mr. Nicholson Gardiner, and others, all evidently well known to his readers, as authorities on the subject. He recommends various manures for different plants, and for the general improvement of the soil. Fern spread over the earth during the winter, and then dug in— " Ashes of ferns are excellent " and " soot enriches the ground," also shavings of horn. " Onions and bay salt sown together have prospered exceeding well." He is careful to specify the best kind of manure for every plant. On the reverse of the title-page of The Jewel House of Art and Nature, he gives a picture of an exceptionally large ear of barley, " grown at Bishop's Hill, Middlesex, in 1594, the ground being manured with sope ashes".

Another plant-lover of this date who deserves to be remembered, is Dr. Penny. Not much is known of his life. He was a physician, and travelled abroad, and also about England, and collected many plants. He was a friend of the most eminent botanists of the day, Clusius, Gesner, Turner, Lobel, Gerard, etc. He must have been well known at the time by the way in which he is referred to by these writers, although now his name is remembered by few. Gerard speaks of him as " Thomas Pennie, of London, Doctor of Physic, of famous memorie and a second Dioscorides for his singular knowledge of Plants, . . . lately deceased . . . whose death myself and many others do greatly bewail." Johnson refers to him in the same way: " Of famous memorie, a good physician and skilfull Herbalist." He was the introducer of several plants, and was the first to find some of our native species. Clusius named Hyperium balearicum " Pennaei " after him, as he brought it first from Majorca. Geranium tuberosum was also called after him ; this plant was brought to England by Turner, who " bestowed it on Dr. Penny," from whom Clusius received it.

Other writers on gardening, of about this time, have been quoted already; but little is known of their lives, beyond what can be gathered from their works. William Lawson. who treats of orchards and fruit-trees, was a north-countryman, and wrote from his own experience. Thomas Hill, or Didymus Mountain, as he sometimes styled himself, published several works, which he did not profess to have composed, but " gathered out of the best approved writers of gardening, Husbandrie, and Physic." * Of some authors we know not even the names. N. F., the writer of a good treatise on fruit in 1608 and 1609, cannot be identified, nor do the initials correspond to any of the many names quoted by other writers, unless Fowle, mentioned by Gerard as the " skilful keeper" of Queen Elizabeth's garden at St. James, and famous for the musk melons he grew there, had a Christian name beginning with N.

* Gardener s Labyrinth, 1751.