Gervase Markham's portrait is prefixed to his "Perfect Horseman;" 8vo. It is re-engraved for Richardson's portraits to Granger. Markham appears to have been a good soldier, as well as a good scholar. He published in 4to. 1623, "The Country House-Wife's Garden." He wrote Herod and Antipater, a tragedy. Langbaine speaks very much in his praise, and seemingly not without reason. Dr. Dibden, in his "Library Companion," says, "on many accounts does Markham seem entitled to more notice and commendation." He translated Leibault's Maison Rustique, in 1616, in 4to. or small folio, and augmented it with many additions from Oliver de Serres, and others. Weston, in his Catalogue, says he re-printed the editions in 1614 and 1631, of Barnaby Gooche's Husbandry. He published many books on husbandry, on fowling, on angling, on military discipline, on horsemanship. Many of their titles are enumerated in Langbaine, and in Weston, and they appear all to be more fully stated in Watts's Bibl. Brit. Much information, as to Markham, may be seen in vol. ii. of the Censura Literaria; and in Sir E. Brydges's edition of Phillips's Theatrum Poetarum Anglicanorum, appears, perhaps, the best list of his works, with a brief memoir.[64]
Parkinson's excellent portrait, by Marshall, appears in the title page to his Theatrum Botanicum, in 1640. Some one may now possess the original. In his Paradisus, 1635, there is a very scurvy engraving of his healthy, and hearty-looking old countenance. In this miserable cut, which is on wood, the graver, Christopher Switzer, does not seem to have had a strife "with nature to outdo the life." Marshall's head is re-engraved for Richardson's Illustrations to Granger. Parkinson rose to such a degree of reputation, as to be appointed Apothecary to King James. He was appointed herbalist to Charles I. Dr. Pulteney speaks highly of both the above works, particularly of the Theatrum. All the memorials we have of the private history of this most industrious and zealous herbalist, are very scanty. He died about 1645, aged about 78. The curious contents of his Paradisus are diffusively narrated in Johnson's English Gardening. When perusing the pages of either of the above, one may exclaim,
——"not a tree,
A plant, a leaf, a blossom, but contains
A folio volume. We may read, and read,
And read again; and still find something new,
Something to please, and something to instruct,
E'en in the humble weed."
The above is scarcely better than Switzer's. There appears no faithful portrait of Parkinson, but Marshall's, who had the felicity to draw other portraits besides his.
Hollar's striking portraits of the Tradescants, are well known. On their tomb, at Lambeth, the following lines form part of the inscription:—
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.
In the Ashmolean Museum, is a portrait of the Son, in his garden, with a spade in his hand. In Mr. Nichols's "Illustrations to Granger," consisting of seventy-five portraits, appear those of the Tradescants, father and son. Smith also engraved John Tradescant, with his son, and their monument, 1793. Mr. Weston, in his Catalogue, fully describes the Museum Tradescantium. Dr. Pulteney observes, that "in a work devoted to the commemoration of Botanists, their name stands too high not to demand an honourable notice; since they contributed, at an early period, by their garden and museum, to raise a curiosity that was eminently useful to the progress and improvement of natural history in general. The reader may see a curious account of the remains of this garden, drawn up in the year 1749, by the late Sir W. Watson, and printed in vol. xlvi. of the Phil. Trans. The son died in 1662. His widow erected a curious monument, in memory of the family, in Lambeth church-yard, of which a large account, and engravings from a drawing of it in the Pepysian Library, at Cambridge, are given by the late learned Dr. Ducarel, in vol. lxiii. of the Phil. Trans."
Sir Henry Wotton, Provost of Eaton. His portrait is given in Isaac Walton's Lives of Wotton, and others. It, of course, accompanies Zouch's, and the other well-known editions of Isaac Walton's Lives. In Evans's Illustrations to Granger, is Sir H. Wotton, from the picture in the Bodleian Library, engraved by Stow. In Sir Henry's Reflections on Ancient and Modern Learning, is his chapter "On Ancient and Modern Agriculture and Gardening." Cowley wrote an elegy on him, which thus commences:—
What shall we say since silent now is he,
Who when he spoke, all things would silent be;
Who had so many languages in store,
That only Fame can speak of him with more.