(_Continued from_ p. 368.)
Whether it was Ashmole's influence, or that the equity of the case was
on his side, is uncertain; but the Court of Chancery decided in his
favour, and he was declared the proprietor of the Tredescantian Museum.
He obtained, without being able to produce any written document which
declared his right to the possession, all that the two Tredescants,
father and son, had with inexpressible trouble, and by means of many
voyages, brought together in their Museum and Botanic Garden.
The judgement of the Lord Chancellor[1] (Clarendon) was:
"He, Ashmole, shall have and enjoy all and singular the bookes,
coynes, medalls, stones, pictures, mechanicks, and antiquities,
and all and every other the raryties and curiosities, of what sort
or kind soever, whether naturall or artificiall, which were in
John Tredescant's Closett, or in or about his house at South
Lambeth the 16th December, 1659, and which were commonly deemed,
taken, and reputed as belonging or appertaining to the said
Closett, or Collection of Rarities, an abstract whereof was
heretofore printed under the tytle of 'Museum Tredescantianum.'"
[Footnote 1: "The means of exhibiting Lord Clarendon as an equity
judge," says Mr. Lister, "and of estimating his efficiency, are
very scanty. The political functions of the Lord Chancellor then
preponderated over the judicial functions much more than at
present." He had for twenty years ceased to practise at the bar,
and the very different avocations of that long period may have
tended to unfit him. It is said that he never made a decree
without the assistance of two of the judges: this implies a
consciousness of want of knowledge, but, as his biographer says,
"does not prove that the precaution was required."]
Mrs. Tredescant was adjudged to have merely during her life a kind of
custody of, or guardianship over the collection, "subject to the Trust
for the Defendant during her life."
The Lord Chancellor further decreed that a commission should be named to
inquire whether everything was forthcoming which was named in the
_Catalogue_; in order that if anything was missing she should be
constrained to replace it, and give security that nothing should be lost
in future. The commissioners appointed to carry into effect the
Chancellor's decree were however two persons with whom Ashmole must have
been on terms of intimate friendship, namely, Sir Edward Bysh and Sir
William Dugdale, both Heralds like himself; and with the latter he at
length became most intimately connected by marrying his daughter. To
them was also added, in his official capacity, Sir William Glascock, a
Master in Chancery. Tredescant's widow, as may be imagined, did not very
quietly submit to this, as it seemed to her, unjust decree; but all her
endeavours at opposition were fruitless; she was constrained to yield;
and it seems probable that the depressing influence of this struggle
affected her so much as to cause her death. She was found drowned in the
pond in the garden cultivated by her husband and his father at South
Lambeth, on the 3rd of April, 1678.
Whatever may have been the legal or equitable right of Ashmole, upon
which the decree in Chancery was founded, it is impossible for a
generous mind to come to any other conclusion than that the course he
pursued was unworthy of him as a man of education, and of his wealth and
station; for it must be obvious from the will of Tredescant, that even
supposing he had willingly and wittingly made a deed of gift of his
treasures to Ashmole, and given him formal possession by handing over
the Queen Elizabeth's shilling, it is next to impossible to believe that
Ashmole did not know that he repented that act, and wished to connect
his own name with the bequest to the University. Dr. Hamel[2] is induced
to think that many of Tredescant's curiosities were never sent to
Oxford; that there had been a careful suppression of every written
document which might serve to connect the name of the Tredescants with
the collection; and that the relation of the voyage to Russia only
escaped because it bore no mark by which it could be recognised as
Tradescant's.
[Footnote 2: Dr. Hamel sought in vain at the Ashmolean Museum for
some of the articles which the elder Tredescant brought home from
Russia; among others, for an article occurring at p. 46. of the
_Tredescant Catalogue_, described as "The Duke of Muscovy's vest,
wrought with gold upon the breast and arms," which he thinks may
have belonged to the Wojewode of Archangel, Wassiljewitch Chilkow.
He however found nothing but the head of a Sea-diver, the remains
of a whole bird described by Tredescant as a "Gorara or Colymbus
from Muscovy:" the body seems to have shared the same fate as that
of the Dodo. Another remarkable article occurring in the Catalogue
is pointed out by Dr. Hamel, viz. "Blood that rained in the Isle
of Wight, attested by Sir Jo. Oglander." This article, had it been
preserved, he thinks might have proved of great scientific
importance, as it is possible that it may have been some of that
meteoric red dust which is recorded in the _Chronicle of Bromton_
as having fallen in the Isle of Wight in the year 1177. The words
of the Chronicle are: "Anno 1177 die Dominica post Pentecostes
sanguineus imber cecidit in insula de _Whit_, fere per duas hores
integras, ita quod panni linei per sepes ad siccandum suspensi,
rore illo sanguineo sic aspersi fuerant acsi in vaso aliquo pleno
sanguine mersi essent." Sir John Oglander, whose attestation is
mentioned, was the immediate descendant of Richard de Okelander,
who came over with William the Conqueror. Tredescant most probably
became known to him when gardener to the Duke of Buckingham, with
whom Sir John was joint commissioner for levies in Hampshire.]
"The more we examine the _Catalogue of the Museum
Tredescantianum_," says Dr. Hamel, "the more we are astonished
that it was possible for these _Gardeners_ (for such, we see, is
the modest denomination the younger Tredescant assumes in his
will) to get together so many and such various objects of
curiosity, and to become the founders of the first collection of
curiosities of Nature and Art in England."
Such men, and their endeavours to promote a love for, and to advance
natural science, deserved at least to have had their names perpetuated
with their collection; and whatever may be the merits of Ashmole as an
antiquary, notwithstanding I am one of the fraternity, I must confess
that although he has some claim to consideration for having augmented
the collection, the Tredescants rank far above him as benefactors of
mankind.
The mention, in the will of Robert and Thomas Tredescant, of
Walberswick, in the county of Suffolk, is, I think, decisive that the
elder Tredescant was an Englishman. In the relation of his voyage to
Russia he shows that he was familiar with the aspect of the two
adjoining counties of Essex and Norfolk. Dr. Hamel has directed his
inquiries toward the registry of the church at Walberswick, in which he
was aided by Mr. Ellis of Southwold; but unfortunately the existing
register commences a century too late, the first entry being of the year
1756. In Gardner's _Historical Account of Dunwich, Blithburg, and
Southwold_, 1754, there are notices of Walberswick, but the name of
Tredescant does not occur.
I have just learned that the late MR. TRADESCANT LAY claimed descent
from the Tredescants; and it seems probable that it was through the MRS.
LEA, to whom Ashmole paid the 100_l._ on account of Tredescant's
bequest. Ashmole may have written _Lea_ for _Lay_, or the name, as often
happens, may have assumed the latter form in the lapse of time.
It is remarkable that Mr. Tradescant Lay was the _Naturalist_ attached
to Beechey's expedition, and published _The Voyage of the Himmaleh_. He
went subsequently to China, on account of the missions, but afterwards
received an appointment under the government (probably that of
interpreter). In the year 1841 he put forth an interesting little work,
entitled _The Chinese as they are_; and he was at least worthy of the
descent he claimed.
I have only to add, that I have not seen the original will, or the
documentary evidence in the suit in Chancery. Desirous of losing no time
in this communication, which is not without interest at the present
moment, as it may influence the tribute about to be paid to the memory
of the Tredescants by the reparation of their monuments, I have relied
on Dr. Hamel's transcripts.
One is gratified to find that the merits of these humble and
unpretending lovers of science is at length appreciated, and that, while
some of the inhabitants of Lambeth, where they dwelt, are taking
effective measures to restore the monument erected to their memory by
the unfortunate Hester, a just tribute to their merits has been paid by
Dr. Hamel at St. Petersburg! On Ashmole's tombstone in Lambeth Church is
inscribed: "Mortem obiit 18 Maii, 1692, sed durante Musæo Ashmoleano
Oxonii nunquam moriturus." May not some similar record relate to
posterity that it was to the Tredescants we owe the foundation of the
first Museum of Curiosities of Nature and Art, as well as the first
Botanic Garden?