s, impaling a lion passant; on the _west_, a hydra,
and under it a skull; various figures of trees, &c., in relievo, adorn the
four corners of the tomb; over it is placed a handsome tablet of black
marble. The monument, by the contribution of some friends to their memory,
was in the year 1773 repaired, and (according to Sir John Hawkins) the
following lines, "_formerly_ intended for an epitaph, inserted thereon."
Other authorities say that they were merely _restored_.

"Know, stranger, ere thou pass beneath this stone,
Lye John Tradescant, grandsire, father, son;
The last dy'd in his spring; the other two
Liv'd till they had travell'd Art and Nature through,
As by their choice collections may appear,
Of what is rare, in land, in sea, in air;
Whilst they (as Homer's _Iliad_ in a nut)
A world of wonders in one closet shut;
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."

A number of important errors concerning this once celebrated family have
been made by different writers. Sir John Hawkins, in a note to his edition
of Walton's _Angler_ (edit. 1792, p. 24.), says:

"There were, it seems, three of the Tradescants, grandfather, father,
and son: the son is the person here meant: the two former were
gardeners to Queen Elizabeth, and the latter to King Charles I."

The epitaph above quoted satisfactorily proves, I think, that the
Tradescants were never gardeners to the maiden Queen. "The rose and lily
queen" was certainly Henrietta Maria, the queen of Charles the First. I
have now before me (from the cabinet of a friend) a small silver medal
struck to commemorate the marriage of Charles the First. It has on the
obverse the busts of Charles and Henrietta, the sun shining from the clouds
above {355} them: the inscription is CH: MAG: ET: HEN: MA: BRIT: REX: ET:
REG. The reverse contains in the field, Cupid mixing _lilies with roses_;
the legend being FVNDIT: AMOR: LILIA: MIXTA: ROSIS. In the exergue is the
date 1625. The Tradescant mentioned by Walton in 1653 was the _second_ of
that name, not the son, as stated by Sir John Hawkins.

The editor of the last edition of Evelyn's _Diary_ (vol. ii. p. 414.) says,
speaking of the Tradescants:

"They were all emi