Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/331

 10* s. i. APRIL 2, loot.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

271

"The eminent Philip Miller was long gardener here, and he published in 1730 a catalogue of the plants, which was reprinted, with additions, in 1739."

'I refer MR. PETTY to this catalogue, and to many others issued subsequently ; also to 'An Accurate Survey of the Botanic Garden at Chelsea,' and many similar works which will be readily shown him if he pays a visit to the Apothecaries' Hall at Blackfriars.

In vol. x. part ii. of the ' Beauties of Eng- land and Wales,' 1814, p. 437, occurs the fol- lowing, where, it will be observed, no mention of a quitrent of 51. is made :

"The freehold of the Physic Garden at Chelsea was given to the Apothecaries by Sir Hans Sloane, upon condition that they should present annually to the Royal Society fifty new plants till the number should amount to 2,000. This condition ,was punctually fulfilled, and the specimens are yet preserved in the Society's collection."

CHAS. F. FORSHAW, LL.D., F.R.Hist.S. Bradford.

In 'Memoirs of the Botanic Garden at Chelsea,' by the late Henry Field, revised by R. H. Semple, M.D., 1878, the most important covenants of the conveyance from Sir Hans Sloane are given, the one alluded to by Mr. W. C. Hazlitt, in the Antiquary of 1885, stating that the Master, Wardens, and Society shall have the "parcel of arable and pasture ground situate at

Chelsea, in the County of Middlesex, paying

to Sir Hans Sloane, his heirs and assigns, the

jarly rent of 51., and rendering yearly to the resident, Council, and Fellows of the Royal Society of London fifty specimens of distinct plants, well dried and preserved, which grew in their garden the same year, with their names or reputed names ; and those presented in each year to be specifically different from (those of) every former year until the number of two thousand shall have been delivered."

It is further ordered that if this condition is not complied with and the garden is diverted from its desired object it shall be lawful for Sir Hans Sloane to re-enter into possession of the premises,

" to hold them in trust for the Royal Society, sub- ject to the same rent, and to the delivery of speci- mens of plants, as above mentioned, to the President of the College or Commonalty or Faculty of Physic, in London ; and in case the Royal Society shall refuse to comply with these conditions, then in trust for the President and College of Physicians in London, subject to the same conditions as the Society of Apothecaries were originally charged with."

It would seem that there is no doubt that the desired conditions were duly complied with, for on 15 December, 1773, when Mr. William Curtis was elected to the vacant office of Demonstrator of Plants and Prsefectus Horti, some very elaborate regulations set

forth his duties. There were six of them, but it is only with the fifth that we have to do. It sets forth that

" he is yearly to prepare fifty dried specimens from plants growing in the Society's Garden at Chelsea, which are to be presented to the Royal Society, by direction of the late Sir Hans Sloane, Bart., having been first approved by the Court of Assistants of this Society."

It will thus be seen that the Society was fully alive to what was required from it. Writing in 1820, Mr. Field, in reference to the tenure on which the garden is held by the Society of Apothecaries, states that the con- dition as to the presentation of two thousand plants "had been long before fulfilled." He further says that a " much larger number had been given than the condition demanded, but it is not easy to ascertain when the presenta- tion ceased." Prof. W. T. Brande, one of the secretaries of the Royal Society, states that the last presentation of plants took place on 17 February, 1774, being the fifty-first annual presentation, the whole amounting to 2,550 plants. The author adds :

" It is perfectly certain that the plants were pre- sented long subsequently to that time, but the delivery must either have taken place at irregular periods, or if otherwise the minute books of the Society of Apothecaries have not regularly noticed it. The last presentation of fifty plants mentioned in those minutes is in October, 1794, the last pre- ceding that being in October, 1791. The entries in former years appear to have been equally irregular.''

W. E. HARLAND-OXLEY. C2, The Almshouses, Rochester Row, S.W.

To any who are interested in the Chelsea Physic Gardens I would recommend the perusal of a very interesting account by MR. JOHN T. PAGE (an old correspondent of ' N. & Q.') which appeared in the East End News of 10 August, 1898, also ' X. & Q.,' 5 th S. iii. 230, 380.

The Standard of 3 December, 1898, con- tained a legal notice from the Charity Com- missioners on the intended alterations, and comments thereon will be found on 24 March and 3 and 21 May, 1899. An account of the opening of the new laboratories by Lord Cadogan, with a sketch of the history of the gardens since their foundation in 1653, will be found in the Standard of 2G July, 1902. The article thus concludes :

" One interesting relic of Old London will be turned to useful account, without any of its land- marks being removed or its character essentially altered."

EVERARD HOME COLEMAX.

71, Brecknock Road.

[MR. HOLDEX MAcMicHAEL also sends extracts from Mr. Field's work.]