Hunt Institute Archives Text Discovery Platform

Page transcription

of plants, which he had received from his friend Goodyer, were printed in a form which made them readily recognisable.

We have so little knowledge of Thomas Johnson's personal life,
that it is a pleasure to find that there is in existence a letter, relating
to the Herball, indicating that a friendship existed between him and the poet,
Sir Henry Wotton, the author of that perfect distich upon Lady Morton:

"He first deceased; she for a little tried
To live without him, liked it not, and died".

The letter in question is addressed "To my verie loving and
learned friend Mr. Johnson Apothecarie, at his howse on Snowe Hill, London".
Wotton explains that he is sending his servant with the request that Johnson
will tell him "where he may buy one of your Gerrards, well and strongly
bound: Next, where I may have for my monye, all kinde of coloured Pynkes
to sett in a Quarter of my Garden or any such flowers as perfume the Ayre".
We can easily guess what directions Johnson gave to wotton's servant, for in
the Herbal, after describing "Gillofloures, Pinkes and the like", he recommends
"such as are addicted to these commendable and harmlesse delights" to "repaire
to the garden of Mistresse Tuggy ...in Westminster, which in excellencie and
varietie of these delights exceedeth all that I have seenes".

In 1639 Johnson made his last herborizing excursion, the famous
Welsh journey, in the course of which he ascended Snowdon, and found alpine
plants such Silene acaulis, the cushion Pink. Though his fame
is founded on his edition of Gerard, in reality his most important work was
the Mercurius Botanicus, which was based primarily upon the results of his
various plant-hunting expeditions. This work, which was published in
two parts in 1634 and 1641, was, in a sense, the earliest British flora, for
it was the first work in which the attempt was made to enumerate all the
known British plants, and to deal with them alone; the herbals, on
the other hand, had aimed at comprehensiveness, and had not concentrated on the
plants of this country. He had indeed planned to carry this undertaking
much further, and, in collaboration with John Goodyer, to produce a regular