"Know, stranger, ere thou pass beneath this stone, Lye John Tradescant, grandsire, father, son; The last dy'd in his spring; the other two Liv'd till they had travell'd Art and Nature through, As by their choice collections may appear, Of what is rare, in land, in sea, in air; Whilst they (as Homer's _Iliad_ in a nut) A world of wonders in one closet shut; These famous antiquarians that had been _Both Gardeners to the Rose and Lily Queen_, Transplanted now themselves, sleep here; and when Angels shall with their trumpets waken men, And fire shall purge the world, these hence shall rise, And change this garden for a Paradise."
A number of important errors concerning this once celebrated family have been made by different writers. Sir John Hawkins, in a note to his edition of Walton's _Angler_ (edit. 1792, p. 24.), says:
"There were, it seems, three of the Tradescants, grandfather, father, and son: the son is the person here meant: the two former were gardeners to Queen Elizabeth, and the latter to King Charles I."
The epitaph above quoted satisfactorily proves, I think, that the Tradescants were never gardeners to the maiden Queen. "The rose and lily queen" was certainly Henrietta Maria, the queen of Charles the First. I have now before me (from the cabinet of a friend) a small silver medal struck to commemorate the marriage of Charles the First. It has on the obverse the busts of Charles and Henrietta, the sun shining from the clouds above { 355} them: the inscription is CH: MAG: ET: HEN: MA: BRIT: REX: ET: REG. The reverse contains in the field, Cupid mixing _lilies with roses_; the legend being FVNDIT: AMOR: LILIA: MIXTA: ROSIS. In the exergue is the date 1625. The Tradescant mentioned by Walton in 1653 was the _second_ of that name, not the son, as stated by Sir John Hawkins.
The editor of the last edition of Evelyn's _Diary_ (vol. ii. p. 414.) says, speaking of the Tradescants:
"They were all eminent gardeners, travellers, and collectors of curiosities. The two first came into this country in the reign of James I., and the second and third were employed in the Royal Gardens by Charles I."
Here is a _positive_ statement that the elder Tradescant and his son came into England in the reign of _James I._ But there is no _proof_ of this given. It is merely the writer's assertion. At the end of the same note, speaking of Tradescant's Ark, the editor observes: