[26 Oct 1710. Visit to the physic garden of the Society of Apothecaries]

On 26 Oct., Sunday afternoon, we first drove to Chelsea in order to see Mylord Renlo's [*]

RENLO. The house of Richard Earl of Ranelagh, built in 1691; it was destroyed in 1805.

house there; this, however we were unable to do as he was himself residing there at the moment. So we drove back and went into the herb garden of the London apothecaries. It is fairly large and made vastly pleasant by the fine clipped hedges and all manner of figures of yew. But they were not able to show us many curious and rare plants. The green-house also is small and wretched, with few plants in it. In the garden itself are one or two tolerably high and well-grown cedars of Lebanon, which are more or less similar to our fir-trees, but thicker and with closer needles. We saw, moreover, a cucumber-tree, whose bark forms the cucumbers that are used as stoppers. It resembled a lime-tree with three knots or crowns. From hence we went somewhat further up into the coffee-house famed for its curiosities. It looks more like a museum of art and natural curiosities than a coffee-house. For both standing round the walls and hanging from the ceiling are all manner of exotic beasts, such as crocodiles and turtles, as well as Indian and other strange costumes and weapons. It is a pity that these things, of which many are truly curious, should hang there in the tobacco smoke and become spoilt. In the evening we were with our usual circle in the Paris coffee-house; among other matters we heard from Herr Kerchern that if tin is well rubbed with Cyprian vitriol and saliva, it looks like copper.