"He was buried by his grandfather, in Lambeth Churchyard."
The word _by_, in the quotation, meaning, _by the side of_, _close by_ his
grandfather. The burial register of Lambeth parish gives the date of the
interment, Sept. 16, 1652. Ashmole's _Diary_, as quoted by DR. RIMBAULT,
and the burial register also, give the date of the death of Tradescant No.
2., who survived his son ten years: the family then became extinct.
Ashmole, who became acquainted with the Tradescants in 1650, never mentions
the grandfather (No. 1.), nor is his name to be found in the burial
registry; and consequently the date of his death, as far as I have read,
has always been set down as uncertain. There are other parish records,
however, than burial registers; and I was well repaid for my search by
finding, in the Churchwardens' Accounts of St. Mary's, Lambeth, the
following entries:
"1634. June 1. Received for burial of Jane, wife of John Tradeskin,
12s."
"1637-8. Item. John Tradeskin; ye gret bell and black cloth, 5s. 4d."
This last entry, in all probability, marks the date of the death of the
first Tradescant. Assuming that it does, and as the engraving by Hollar
represents him as far advanced in years, his age did not exclude him from
having been in the service of Queen Elizabeth, so much so as it would if he
had died in 1652. I read the line on the tombstone,--
"Both gardeners to the Rose and Lily Queen"--
as signifying that one of the Tradescants had been gardener to Elizabeth,
the Rose Queen, and the other to Henrietta, the Lily Queen. However, as
that is little more than a matter of opinion, not of historical fact, it
need not be further alluded to at present.
I am happy to say, that I have every reason to believe that I am on the
trace of new, curious, and indisputably authentic information respecting
the Tradescants. If successful, and if the editor will spare me a corner, I
shall be proud to communicate it to the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES."
Tradescant's house, and the house adjoining, where Ashmole lived, previous
to his taking possession of Tradescant's house, after Mrs. Tradescant's
death (see Ashmole's _Diary_), are still standing, though they have
undergone many alterations. Even there, the name of Tradescant seems
forgotten: the venerable building is only known by a _nick-name_, derived
most probably from its antique chimneys. I had many weary pilgrimages
before I discovered the identical edifice. I have not seen the interior,
but am aware that there are some traces of Ashmole in the house, but none
whatever of Tradescant in either house or garden. I had a conversation with
the gardener of the gentleman who now occupies it: he appeared to have an
indistinct idea that an adept in his own profession had once lived there,
for he observed that, "If old What's-his-name were alive now, the potato
disease could soon be cured." Oh! what we antiquaries meet with! He further
gave me to understand that "_furriners_ sometimes came there wishing to see
the place, but that I was the only Englishman, that he recollected, who
expressed any curiosity about it."
The _restorers_ of the tomb of the Tradescants merely took away the old
leger stone, on which were cut the words quoted by A. W. H. (Vol. iii., p.
207.), and replaced it by a new stone bearing the lines quoted by DR.
RIMBAULT, which were not on the original stone (see Aubrey's _Surrey_), and
the words--
"Erected 1662.
Repaired by Subscription, 1773."
But although the name of the childless, persecuted widow, Hester
Tradescant, is not now on the tomb which she piously erected to the
memories of her husband and son; still, on the west end of it, can be
traced the form of a hydra tearing a human skull--fit emblem of the foul
and vulture-like rapacity of Elias Ashmole.