gardens, not only because it seems to withstand any amount of smoke and bad air, but because of its association with the famous garden in Lambeth, where it was first grown. Parkinson, in 1629, gives the history of his friend’s introduction of the plant. “The Spiderwort,” he writes, “is of late knowledge, and for it the Christian World is indebted unto that painfull industrious searcher, and lover of all nature’s varieties, John Tradescant (sometimes belonging to the Right Honourable Lord Robert Earle of Salisbury, Lord Treasurer of England in his time, and unto the Right Honourable the Lord Wotton at Canterbury in Kent, and lastly unto the late Duke of Buckingham), who first received it of a friend, that brought it out of Virginia, thinking it to bee the Silke Grasse that groweth there, and hath imparted hereof, as of many other things, both to me and others.” “Unto this plant I confess I first imposed the name ... which untill some can finde a more proper, I desire may still continue ... John Tradescant’s Spider Wort of Virginia.” Courageous as herbalists generally were in tasting plants, Parkinson confesses there had “not beene any tryall made of the properties” or “vertues.” Luckily no one has disputed Parkinson’s choice of a name, and his friend’s memory is still preserved. The plant is not confined to Virginia, but grows much further into the Wild West, and is common in Kansas, Nebraska, and distant States. Yet it will still adapt itself to the grimy limits of a London garden, and flower year after year. The Grey-coat School Garden is quite refreshing; the plants look so healthy and prosperous that it is really encouraging. The interior of the house, with oak beams and panels, is all in keeping, and the long class-room, with windows looking out on the bright Garden, is most ideal. As, at the close of their afternoon studies, the girls, singing sweetly in parts, join in some familiar hymn, and the melodious sounds are wafted across the sunlit Garden, it is hard to believe in the existence of the crowded, unsavoury slums of Westminster, only a stone’s throw from this “haunt of ancient peace.” [Illustration: GREY COAT SCHOOL, WESTMINSTER]