Within this enclosure, called the Herbaceous Ground, heedlessly passed and perhaps never heard of by the thousands who go to see the Palm Houses, lies to me the real and truest interest of Kew. For here is a living dictionary of English wild-flowers. The meadow and the cornfield, the river, the mountain, and the woodland, the seashore, the very waste place by the roadside, each has sent its peculiar representatives, and glancing for the moment, at large, over the beds, noting their number and extent, remembering that the specimens are not in the mass but individual, the first conclusion is that our own country is the true Flowery Land. But the immediate value of this wonderful garden is in the clue it gives to the most ignorant, enabling any one, no matter how unlearned, to identify the flower that delighted him or her, it may be, years ago in far-away field or copse. Walking up and down the green paths between the beds, you are sure to come upon it presently, with its scientific name duly attached and its natural order labelled at the end of the patch. Had I only known of this place in former days, how gladly I would have walked the hundred miles hither. For the old folk, the aged men and countrywomen, have for the most part forgotten, if they ever knew, the plants and herbs in the hedges they had frequented from their childhood. Some few, of course, they can tell you; but the majority are as unknown to them, except by sight, as the ferns of New Zealand or the heaths of the Cape. Since books came about, since the railways and science destroyed superstition, the lore of herbs has in great measure decayed and been lost. The names of many of the commonest herbs are quite forgotten—they are weeds, and nothing more. But here these things are preserved; in London, the centre of civilisation and science, is a garden which restores the ancient knowledge of the monks and the witches of the villages.
THE LAKE, LOOKING SOUTH
But whatever else at Kew be done or left undone, the stranger must be pointed to what is almost the latest and not least attractive of its spectacles—the North Gallery, that stands on the Richmond road side, beyond the mound on which a Douglas pine rears what boasts itself the tallest flagstaff in the world, and near where the walk is crossed by an imitation ruined arch, overgrown with greenery, which in Sir W. Chambers’s time seemed an ornamental manner of carrying a roadway out of the grounds. The pretty building itself will at once invite attention; then hours may be spent in examining its contents, the gift and handiwork of Miss Marianne North, who well deserved to stand godmother to several plants brought to knowledge by her researches.
This lover of flowers, a descendant from the Roger North remembered by his biography of three notable brothers, was born at Hastings, for which her father sat in Parliament. Her desire to see and to paint the tropics was awakened at Kew when Sir William Hooker gave her a glorious bunch from the first Amherstia nobilis to bloom in England. With her father she travelled much in Europe, and as far as Syria and Egypt. Thrown on her own guidance after his death and the marriage of her sister to J. A. Symonds, she launched out for America and the West Indies; then took a tour round the world and made some stay in India, bringing back from time to time several hundred paintings to be exhibited at South Kensington. When she found her work appreciated, Miss North resolved on presenting the whole collection to the public, and at her own expense set about the building of a gallery for it at Kew. Before this was opened in 1882, she had been to Australasia for fresh subjects; then again set off to enrich its contents from South Africa and the islands of the Indian Ocean. The gallery had soon to be enlarged, while its indefatigable founder made her last expedition, this time to Chili. The story of those peregrinations is told in her Recollections of a Happy Life, that pass over lightly the many hardships she braved in procuring so much pleasure for her stay-at-home countryfolk. But perilous climates and trying exertions had told on her nerves; and after a year spent in finally arranging the Kew collection, she was fain to seek the repose of a Gloucestershire garden, which many friends contributed to adorn with such beauties as she had followed far and near. Here, a few years later, she died in 1890.
HERBACEOUS GARDENS
The North collection is unique, not only in its scope and interest, but in its being the work of one woman, whom Queen Victoria regretted that she could distinguish by no mark of public honour: in the next reign she might have been rewarded by the new Order of Merit bestowed on Florence Nightingale. Her legacy to the nation, catalogued in more than a hundred pages, pictures some thousand species of flowers and plants, from nearly all parts of the world, for the most part executed on the spot within little over a dozen years. This is the sight no visitor should miss; and from whatever clime he comes, he is almost sure to find some souvenir of it blooming here under the dullest sky and the chilliest influences, against which Kew Gardens strive to carry out their aim of epitomising the earth’s vegetable life.
FOOTNOTES
[1] The Dictionary of National Biography’s article on Francis Willis, written, I understand, by a descendant of his, hardly does justice to this one of his sons. The writer mentions John and Robert as concerned with treating the King at different times, but does not bring forward Thomas, who, so far as I can make out, was closely in charge during the attack of 1801.
[2] Letting in Elizabethan English, of course, bore the opposite meaning to ours, as in “let and hinder.”
INDEX
- Abel, musician, 125
- Acorns exported from Kew, 185
- Addison, quoted, 90
- Æolus, Temple of, 169
- Aiton, John, 102
- Aiton, William, 100
- Aiton, William Townsend, 102
- Albert, Prince, 110
- Amelia, Princess, 64, 79
- Amelia’s House, Princess, 30
- Arch, the ruined, 199
- Argyll, Duke of, 9
- Aroid House, 170
- Assassination, George III.’s escape from, 36
- Augusta, Princess of Saxe-Gotha, 13
- Australian vegetation, 182
- Ayrton, Mr., 109
- Azaleas, 196
- Bach, J. C., 40, 125
- Bacon’s Essay, Of Gardens, 85
- Bamboos, 186
- Bauer, Francis, 146
- Birch, uses of, 187
- Bluebells, 196
- Bohemia, Anne of, 2
- Boswell, 70
- Botanic Garden at Kew, 95, 101, 107, 112
- Botanists, portraits of explorers and, 195
- Bradley, Astronomer-Royal, 87
- Brazil nuts, 193
- Brentford, 8, 77, 113, 119, 132
- Bridgeman, gardener, 91
- Brown, “Capability,” 95
- Buckingham Palace, 27, 32, 78
- Buitenzorg Gardens, Java, 161
- Burney, Miss, quoted, 46, 59, 66, 67
- Burton, Decimus, 108
- Bushey Park, 149
- Bute, Earl of, 19, 23, 95, 123
- “Buttonmaker,” nickname of George III., 31
- Byam, Rev. R. B., 145
- Cactus aloe, 169
- Cambridge Cottage, 46, 123, 153, 156
- Cambridge, Duke Adolphus of, 45, 81, 116, 153
- Cambridge, Duke George of, 154
- Cambridge, Princess Mary of, 155
- Capel, Lord, 11, 87
- Carleton House, 77
- Carob pods, 193
- Caroline, Queen, 9, 10, 94, 116
- Cassava, 194
- Castor-oil plant, the, 193
- Cedars of Lebanon, 197
- Chambers, Sir William, 96
- Character of George III., 22
- Charles I., 7
- Charlotte, Princess, 80, 81
- Charlotte, Queen, 24, 47, 52 68, 80
- Chatterton, quoted, 98
- Chelsea, Physic Garden of, 101
- Chestnuts, 194
- Chrysanthemums, 196
- Church House, 123
- City State Barge, 143
- Clarence, Duke of, 45, 70, 81
- Cobbett, William, 136
- Coca leaves, 192
- Coco-nut of Seychelles, 166
- Coco-nut trees, uses of, 188
- Colton, Charles Caleb, 143
- Confucius, House of, 96
- Cook’s Voyages, 105
- Copernicia cerifera, a tree-of-all-work, 189
- Cotton window, the, 191
- Cowley, quoted, 84
- Crocuses, 196
- Cuba jungles, 171
- Cumberland, Ernest, Duke of, 45, 81, 116, 150, 151
- Cumberland, William of, 12, 18
- Daffodils, 196
- “Dairy House,” the, 11
- D’Arblay, General, 71
- Darwin, Erasmus, quoted, 98
- Darwins, the, 102
- Dates, 194
- Deans, Jeanie, 9
- De Candolles, the, 102
- De Jussieus, the, 102
- Diary, George Rose’s, 74
- Dictionary of National Biography, quoted, 75
- Digby, Colonel, 67
- Dissertation on Oriental Gardening, 96
- Diversions of Purley, the, 134
- Doddington, Bubb, 20
- Dowager Princess of Wales, 20, 95
- Dragon-tree at Orotava, 180
- “Drake, Peter,” 95
- Drawing-rooms at St. James’s, 50
- Duck, Misses, 116
- Duck, Stephen, 94, 116, 117
- Dutch House, the, 11, 29, 74
- Edinburgh Botanical Garden, 103
- Edward III., 2
- Elizabeth, Queen, 5
- “Elizabeth’s house, Princess,” 46
- Engleharts, the, 126
- Ernest, King of Hanover, 107 150, 151
- Ernst, the page, 126
- Eucalyptus, 181
- Evelyn, John, 86
- Explorers, portraits of botanists and, 195
- “Farmer George,” 31
- Finch, Lady Charlotte, 46
- Fischer, musician, 40, 125
- Fitzherbert, Mrs., 45
- Fortnum, 125
- Frederick, Duke of York, 37, 43, 46
- Frederick, Prince of Wales, 11, 15, 88
- Gainsborough, Thomas, 129
- Gardening, art of, 88
- Gardens, celebrated, 87, 88
- Gardens, the Story of the, 82
- Garrick, quoted, 96
- George, Duke of Cambridge, 154
- “George, Farmer,” 31
- George I., 8
- George II., 8, 10, 24
- George III., 13, 74, 76, 78, 95, 120
- George III., accession of, 24
- George III.’s character, 22
- George III.’s escape from assassination, 36
- George III.’s illness, 51
- George III. meets Miss Burney, 47
- George III.’s tutors, 17
- George IV., 77, 106
- George IV., Prince of Wales, 37, 40, 53, 55
- George IV.’s intrigue with “Perdita” Robinson, 41
- Giant gum trees at Melbourne, 164
- Gordon, General, 166
- Great Palm House, 165
- Green, the gardener, 99
- Greenhouse, the, 170
- Greville, Charles, quoted, 150
- Grey, Lady Jane, 4
- Gwyn, Mrs., the “Jessamy Bride,” 145
- Ha-ha fence, 93
- Ham House, 87, 114
- Hampton Court, 3, 8, 10
- Hanover, Ernest, King of, 107
- Hanover, George of, 152
- Haverfield, John, 99
- Hawkins, the brothers, 123
- Helps, Sir Arthur, 147
- Hemp plants, 192
- Henry, Prince, 6
- Herbaceous ground, 169, 198
- Herbarium library, 152
- Heroic Epistle, Mason’s, 95
- Hervey, Lord, quoted, 12, 14
- Highwaymen, 121
- Hill, Sir John, 96
- Hofland, Barbara, 146
- Hollow Walk, the, 123
- “Honour, Maids of,” 8
- Hooker, Sir J. D., 109, 181
- Hooker, Sir W. J., 108, 109
- Horne Tooke, John, 132
- Horse-chestnut, old, 196
- Horticultural Society’s Garden, 107
- Huntingdon, William, S.S., 138
- Hurlbut, W. H., quoted, 171
- “Improvers,” 88
- India-rubber plants, 195
- Islay, Lord, 97
- Italian Gardens, 89
- Jacobi, Mdlle., 69, 72
- James I., 5
- Jefferies, Richard, quoted, 198
- Jones, Henry, 98
- Jones, Inigo, 88
- Juniper Hill, 71
- “Junius,” 134
- Kava root, 192
- Kent, Duke of, 45, 81
- Kent, William, 88
- Kew Bridge, 118
- Kew Castle, 77
- Kew Church, 115
- Kew Churchyard, 129
- Kew Cottage, 147
- Kew Green, 75, 157
- Kew House, 10, 29, 32, 46, 51, 54, 64, 76
- Kew in favour, 31
- “Kew in lilac-time,” 158
- Kew Observatory, 9, 88, 97, 111
- Kew, origin of name, 1
- Kew Palace, 10, 78, 80, 112, 197
- Kew Priory, 143
- Kew Volunteers, 149
- Kingston, 2
- Kirby, Joshua, 129
- Kit-Cat Club, 114
- Kneller, Sir Godfrey, 114
- Kneller Hall, 114
- Knight, Charles, 79
- Knight, Miss Cornelia, 73
- Lacon, quoted, 144
- Lake, the, 197
- Langley, Batty, 91
- Lauderdale, Duke of, at Ham House, 87
- Lebanon, cedars of, 197
- Lely, Sir Peter, 113
- Lennox, Lady Sarah, 26
- Le Nôtre, 89
- Levens Hall, 89
- Linnean classification, the, 190
- Linnés, the, 102
- Lion Gate, the, 197
- Liquorice root, 192
- Little, John, story of, 141
- “Love Lane,” 33
- Macaulay, quoted, 47
- Macnab, James, 103
- Macnab, William, 102
- Macnab, William Ramsay, 103
- “Maids of Honour,” 8
- Mammoth sequoia, 181
- Marvell, A., quoted, 93
- Mary of Cambridge, Princess, 155
- Mason’s Heroic Epistle, 95
- Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Dowager Grand-Duchess of, 155
- Melbourne, giant gum-trees at, 164
- “Merlin’s Cave,” 94
- Meyer, Jeremiah, 126
- Molyneux, Samuel, 11, 87
- Monastery of Sheen, the, 83
- Montague, Lady Mary Wortley, 123
- Moor Park, Hertfordshire, 85
- Murray, Miss Amelia, quoted, 124
- Museums and Economic Houses, 185
- New Zealand Vegetation, 183
- Niepce, J. N. de, 146
- “No Popery” riots, 34
- North Gallery, 199
- North, Miss Marianne, 161, 163, 199
- Nôtre, Le, 89
- Noyes, Mr. A., quoted, 158
- Observatory, the, 9, 88, 97, 111
- Old Brentford, 132
- Old Deer Park, 36, 111, 141
- Opium, 192
- “Orangery,” the, 190
- Orotava, dragon-tree at, 180
- Pagoda, the, 1, 96, 197
- Palace at Richmond, proposed new, 28
- Palm House, 108
- Papendiek, Mrs., Memoirs of, 34, 40, 43, 56, 72, 99, 120, 121, 123, 125
- Papyrus reeds, 167
- Pavilion, the Brighton, 77
- Peradenia, Gardens of, 164
- Petersham, 114
- Phillips’s Morning’s walk from London to Kew, 142
- Physic Garden, Chelsea, 101
- Pond, the, 197
- Pope, quoted, 15, 89
- Portraits of botanists and explorers, 195
- Potato, the, 185
- Prain, Colonel, 109
- Prince Albert, 110
- Prince Frederick of Wales, 11, 15, 88
- Prince George of Hanover, 152
- Prince Henry, 6
- Princess Amelia, 30, 64, 79
- Princess Charlotte, 80, 81
- “Princess Elizabeth’s House,” 46
- Princess Marie’s wedding, 155
- Princess Victoria, 81
- Pringle, Sir John, 123
- Proctor, Richard, 147
- Queen Caroline, 9, 10, 116
- Queen Charlotte, 27, 68, 80
- Queen Elizabeth, 5
- Queen Victoria, 112, 149
- “Queen’s Cottage,” the, 29, 196
- “Queen’s Lodge” at Windsor, 32
- Quinine, 193
- Rafflesia, 162
- Recollections of a Happy Life, 200
- Regency Bill, 53, 62
- Regency, the Prince’s, 79
- Repton, Humphrey, 93
- Richmond, 3, 5, 113, 140
- Richmond Gardens, 94, 110
- Richmond Lodge, 8, 10, 28, 32, 97, 110
- Richmond Palace, 3
- Richmond Park, 7, 30
- Richmond, proposal of new palace at, 28
- Rio de Janeiro, Botanic Garden, near, 164
- Riots, “No Popery,” 34
- Robinson, “Perdita,” 41
- Rock Garden, the, 168
- Rogers, John, Reminiscences, 34, 101
- Rose, George, Diary of, 74
- Roses, 196
- St. James’s Drawing-rooms, 50
- St. James’s Palace, 27
- Saxe-Gotha, Princess Augusta of, 13
- Scholarship, George IV.’s, 37
- Schwellenberg, Mrs., 49, 68
- Scotsmen as gardeners, 100, 105
- Senna, 192
- Seychelles, coco-nut of, 166
- Sharp, Granville, 122
- Sheen, 2
- Sheen Common, 94
- Sheen, the Monastery of, 83
- Snowdrops, 196
- Somerset, Protector, 84
- South African plants, 168
- Spectator, the, quoted, 90
- Spencer, Lady Elizabeth, 27
- Story of the Gardens, the, 82
- Strand-on-the-Green, 113, 126
- Strawberry Hill, 90, 91
- Succulent House, 169
- Sudbrook Park, 114
- Suffolk House, 4
- Sun, Temple of the, 169
- Sunday opening, 110
- Sussex, Duke of, 45
- Swift, quoted, 114
- Switzer, Stephen, 87, 91
- Sydney, Botanic Gardens at, 164
- Syon House, 4, 84
- Syon Vista, the, 197
- Tamerlane’s garden, 100
- Teck, Duke of, 155
- Temple, Sir William, 87
- Temple of Æolus, 169
- Temple of the Sun, 169
- Temple Grove, 87
- Thackeray, quoted, 34
- Theobald’s Park, Enfield, 5
- Thiselton-Dyer, Sir W. T., 109
- Thomson, James, 140
- “Thresher-poet,” the, 116
- Thresher’s Labour, The, quoted, 117
- Thurlow, Lord Chancellor, 62
- Timber Museum, No. III., 190
- Tooke, John Horne, 132
- Topiarian art, the, 89
- Trimmer, Mrs., 129
- Tropical Lily House, 166
- Tropics, plagues of the, 176
- Tulips, 196
- Turner, Dr. William, 83
- Tutors of George III., 17
- Twickenham, 21
- “Two Kings of Brentford,” the, 132
- Upas tree, 195
- Victoria Gate, 112
- Victoria, Princess, 81
- Victoria, Queen, 112, 149
- Victoria Regia, the, 162, 167
- Visiting the Gardens, 157
- Wales, Dowager Princess of, 20, 95
- Wales, Prince Frederick of, 11, 88
- Wallace, Dr. A. R., quoted, 174
- Walpole, Horace, 9, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 21, 28, 45, 63
- Wedding of Princess Marie, 155
- Wells, Mr. J. W., quoted, 189
- West, Sir Algernon, quoted, 109
- Weymouth, 65, 76
- White House, the, 46
- White Lodge, 155
- Whitton Place, 97
- Wild hyacinths, 196
- Wilkes, John, 26, 131
- Wilkes’s head, 76
- “Wilkes and Liberty,” 89, 133
- Wilkinson, Mr., Reminiscences, 154
- William of Cumberland, 12, 18
- William III., 8, 89
- William IV., 87
- Willis, Rev. Dr., 56, 68
- Willises, the, 75
- Windsor Castle, 32, 50, 78
- Wolsey, 3
- Wyatt, Sir Thomas, 118
- York, Frederick, Duke of, 37, 42, 64
- Zoffany, John, 127