Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 45.djvu/417

 relationship with Plat, in 1653, with a dedication to Francis Finch. It then bore the title ‘The Garden of Eden; or an accurate Description of all Flowers and Fruits now growing in England. … By that learned and great observer, Sir Hugh Plat, Knight,’ London, 12mo, 1653, called the fourth edition; another edition, 1659; 5th ed. 1660. Bellingham issued a second part drawn from Plat's unpublished notes in 1660, and both were issued together in 1675, in a so-called sixth edition. Another edition followed in the year 1685.

Many unpublished notes and tracts by Plat on scientific topics are among the Additional MSS. at the British Museum. Among these are ‘Collections relating to Alchymy’ (Addit. MSS. 2194, 2195, 2223, 2246); ‘Secrets of Physick and Surgery’ (Addit. MS. 219; cf. 2203, 2209, 2210, and 3690); ‘Secrets of Metalls, Minerals, Animals, Vegetables, Stones, Pearls, &c., with a Monopolie of profitable Observations’ (Addit. MS. 2245). Evelyn sent to Dr. Wotton in 1696 ‘A Short Treatise concerning Metals’ by Plat (Diary, iv. 18).

Plat died after 1611, when his 'Closet for Ladies' was published. He married twice. His second wife, Judith, daughter of William Albany of London, was buried in Highgate Chapel, 28 Jan. 1635-6. Plat left two sons and three daughters by his second marriage, and other children by his first (cf., London, ed. Strype, iii. 116). William, the fourth son of his second marriage, was buried in Highgate Chapel on 11 Nov. 1637, beneath an elaborate tomb. He left land to St. John's College, Cambridge, where he had been educated as a fellow-commoner, for the maintenance of as many fellows at 30l. a year, and scholars at 10l., as the rents would allow. In 1858 William Platt's estate was merged in the general property of the college, and the three Platt fellowships, which then represented the endowment, became ordinary foundation fellowships (Documents relating to the University and Colleges of Cambridge, 1852, iii. 326-35;, Worthies, ed. Nichols, ii. 385-6; , Environs, iii. 66).

[Cooper's Athenæ Cantabr. ii. 436–8; Hunter's Chorus Vatum in Addit. MS. 24489, f. 25; Brydges's Censura Lit. ii. 215–17; Sir John Harington's Metamorphosis of Ajax, 1596 (repr. 1824), pp. 110 sq.; Mayor's Admissions to St. John's College, Cambridge, ii. pp. lix–lxi; Johnson's Hist. of Gardening, pp. 69–70; Samuel Felton's Portraits of English Gardeners, 1830, pp. 13–15.] 

PLATT, THOMAS JOSHUA (1790?–1862), baron of the exchequer, born about 1790, was son of Thomas Platt of London, solicitor, who was principal clerk to three chief justices, Lords Mansfield, Kenyon, and Ellenborough, during a period of thirty years. He was educated at Harrow and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. 1810, and M.A. 1814. He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple on 9 Feb. 1816, and named a king's counsellor on 27 Dec. 1834, when he became a favourite leader on the home circuit. As an advocate he was remarkable for the energy of his manner and the simplicity of his language. Before a common jury he was usually invincible, but met with fewer successes before special juries. He succeeded Baron Gurney as baron of the court of exchequer on 28 Jan. 1845, and sat until failing health obliged him to retire on 2 Nov. 1856. He was knighted at St. James's Palace on 23 April 1845. Though not deeply read, he proved a sensible judge, while his blunt courtesy and amiability made him popular with the bar. He died at 59 Portland Place, London, on 10 Feb. 1862, and was buried in Highgate cemetery. His widow Augusta died at 61 Queen's Gardens, Hyde Park, London, on 16 Feb. 1885, in her eighty-ninth year. By her Platt had a numerous family.

[Foss's Judges, 1864, ix. 244–5; Foss's Biographia Juridica, 1870, p. 517; Men of the Time, 1862, p. 625; Ballantine's Some Experiences, 8th edit. 1883, pp. 46, 47; Notes and Queries, 1862 iii. 25, 1890 x. 507, 1891 xi. 58, xii. 78, 238; Masters of the Bench of the Inner Temple, 1883, p. 102; Cansick's Epitaphs in Churches of St. Pancras, 1872, pp. 8, 104.] 

PLATT, THOMAS PELL (1798–1852), orientalist, born in 1798 in London, was the son of Thomas Platt. After attending a school at Little Dunham, Norfolk, he was admitted at Trinity College, Cambridge, as pensioner on 25 Nov. 1815. He was elected scholar on 3 April 1818, minor fellow on 2 Oct. 1820, and major fellow on 2 July 1823. He graduated B.A. in 1820 as ninth senior optime, and M.A. in 1823. While at Cambridge he became connected with the British and Foreign Bible Society, and acted for some years as its librarian. In 1823 he published a catalogue of the Æthiopic Biblical MSS. in the Royal Library of Paris and in the library of the British and Foreign Bible Society; and in the succeeding years collated and edited for the society the Æthiopic texts of the New Testament. The object of the publication was not critical, but was ‘simply to give the Abyssinians the Scriptures in as good a form of their ancient