On the Portraits of English Authors on Gardening,: with Biographical Notices of Them, 2nd edition, with considerable additionsFelton, Samuel
History
On the Portraits of English Authors on Gardening,: with Biographical Notices of Them, 2nd edition, with considerable additions
Felton, Samuel
Gardening -- Bibliography; Horticulturists -- England
Mr. Miller fixed his residence adjoining that part of Chelsea
church-yard where he lies interred. He died December 18, 1771. Mr.
Johnson gives a list of his writings, and of the different editions of
his celebrated Dictionary, which he terms "this great record of our
art." He farther does full justice to him, by associating his name, at
p. 147 and p. 151, with that of "the immortal Swede, whose master mind
reduced the confusion and discord of botany to harmony." He calls Miller
"the perfect botanist and horticulturist."[84] The following spirited
tribute to Mr. Miller, appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine for June,
1828:--
"_Chelsea, June 5._
"MR. URBAN,--In the first volume, page 250, of the second edition of
_Faulkner's History of Chelsea_, just published, which contains a very
copious fund of historical, antiquarian, and biographical information, I
find inserted the monument and epitaph of Philip Miller, who was so
justly styled 'the prince of horticulture' by contemporary botanists,
and whose well-earned fame will last as long as the sciences of botany
and horticulture shall endure. The epitaph of this distinguished man is
correctly given; but the historian appears not to have duly appreciated,
if he was even aware of, the circumstances which induced the Fellows of
the Linnæan and Horticultural Societies of London to erect this grateful
tribute of respectful esteem to him, who in his life-time, had done more
than any individual, ancient or modern, towards enlarging the boundaries
of the science of horticulture, and very extensively the far more
difficult one of botany likewise. These he accomplished in the numerous
editions of his unrivalled Dictionary, and in his elaborate
introductions to botanical knowledge.
"The reasons which induced the above-mentioned societies to erect the
monument in question, were, chiefly, because neither monument, nor tomb,
nor even any recording public notice whatever (the 'monumentum ære
perennius' of his own immortal works excepted) had previously been
provided by any one.
"The relatives of Miller were very few; he had no family, save two sons,
one of whom died early, and the other, Charles Miller, at the age of 78,
who spent the greater part of his long life in India, and returned not
until after his father's funeral; and over his grave, in the old
church-yard of Chelsea, a stone and sculptured brass record his name and
age and parentage, together with that of his aged and more distinguished
sire. This stone, too, was placed by the above-mentioned public-spirited
societies, (unto both which the writer has the honour to belong) at the
same time as the monument, stated by Faulkner, to the never-dying fame
of the father.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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