[80] Conrad Gesner drew up a codified list of choice plants cultivated in the gardens of about twenty of his friends, with short lists of rarities in certain gardens. Johann Franke published his _Hortus Lusatiæ_ in forty-eight pages--a very scarce work--which is a catalogue of all the plants growing near Launitz in Bohemia. The list contains both wild and cultivated plants, and the latter are distinguished by the addition of the letter H. [81] This must have been Jean Robin, who in 1597 was appointed Keeper of the King's gardens in Paris. We know that Gerard was on intimate terms with him, and Robin sent him numerous plants, which he gratefully acknowledges in his Herbal. Gerard frequently speaks of him as "my loving friend John Robin." [82] MSS. Record Office, James I. (Domestic), Vol. IX. fol. 113. [83] W. Coles, _The Art of Simpling_. [84] _Cosmographia Universalis_, 1572, p. 49. [85] Shakespeare and Gerard were near neighbours during the time when the former was writing many of his finest plays, for Shakespeare lived in the house of a Huguenot refugee (Mountjoy by name) 1598-1604. This house was at the corner of Mugwell Street (now Monkswell Street) and Silver Street, very near the site of the ancient palace of King Athelstan in Saxon days. Almost opposite Mountjoy's house was the Barber-Surgeons' Hall. Aggers' Map (_circ._ 1560) with pictures of the houses, gives an excellent idea of the neighbourhood in those days. See also Leak's Map (1666). CHAPTER V HERBALS OF THE NEW WORLD "And I doe wish all Gentlemen and Gentlewomen, whom it may concerne, to bee as careful whom they trust with the planting and replanting of these fine flowers, as they would be with so many Iewels."--PARKINSON, _Paradisus_, 1629.