William Hamilton - Revision history

M-westerby at 21:28, September 15, 2021

2021-09-15T21:28:43Z

V-Federici at 16:15, August 5, 2020

2020-08-05T16:15:44Z

V-Federici at 16:10, August 5, 2020

2020-08-05T16:10:50Z

Show changes

A-Whitlock at 14:36, June 2, 2020

2020-06-02T14:36:46Z

V-Federici: /* Images */

2020-06-01T14:22:13Z

Images

A-Whitlock at 14:49, January 17, 2020

2020-01-17T14:49:59Z

L-Baradel: /* Texts */

2019-12-18T20:00:57Z

Texts

L-Baradel: /* Texts */

2019-12-18T19:58:58Z

Texts

A-brey: /* Texts */ fixing m'mahon links

2019-06-17T15:51:21Z

Texts: fixing m'mahon links

Bchristen at 18:25, October 2, 2018

2018-10-02T18:25:43Z

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 '''William Hamilton''' (April 29, 1745&ndash;June 5, 1813) was an accomplished amateur horticulturalist and botanist from Philadelphia. He was known especially for developing the [[English style|English-style]] gardens at his estate, [[The Woodlands]], during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
@@ Line 275: / Line 300: @@
 ==Other Resources==
 [http://woodlandsphila.org/william-hamilton The Woodlands Official Website]
 [http://founders.archives.gov/search/Author%3A%22Hamilton%2C%20William%22 Founders Online]

@@ Line 175: / Line 175: @@
 *<div id="Cutler"></div>[[Manasseh Cutler|Cutler, Manasseh]], November 22, 1803, in a letter to his daughter Mrs. Torrey, describing [[The Woodlands]] (1888: 2:144&ndash;46)<ref>Manasseh Cutler, ''Life, Journals and Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh Cutler, LL.D.'', ed. William Parker Cutler and Julia Perkin Cutler, 2 vols. (Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co, 1888), [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/J2DCEB82 view on Zotero].</ref>
 :“Since you are quite a gardener, I will mention a visit I made, on my journey, near Philadelphia, to a garden, which in many respects exceeds any in America. It is at the country-[[seat]] of Mr. Hamilton, a gentleman of excellent taste and great property. . . As soon as we had dined, he [Mr. Pickering] called me aside, and told me he had been acquainted with Mr. Hamilton, who was noted for his hospitality, and who lived but half a mile up the river, where he did not doubt we should be kindly entertained. We immediately set out, and arrived about an hour before sunset. His [[seat]] is on an eminence, which forms on its summit an extended plain, at the junction of two large rivers.
-:“Near the point of land a superb but ancient house built of stone is situated. In the front, which commends an extensive and most enchanting [[prospect]], is a [[piazza]], supported on large [[pillar]]s, and furnished with chairs and sofas, like an elegant room. Here we found Mr. H., at his ease, smoking his cigar. He instantly recognized Mr. Pickering, and expressed much joy at seeing him. On Mr. Pickering introducing me, he took me by the hand with a pretty hard squeeze. 'Ah, [[Rev. Manasseh Cutler|Dr. Cutler]], I am glad to see you at last. I have long felt disposed to be angry that I should hear of you so often at Philadelphia, and passing to and from the southward, and yet never make me a visit, and Dr. Muhlenburg, of Lancaster, a few days ago, made to me the same complaint. Come, gentlemen, walk in and take some refreshments, for I have much to show you, and it will directly be night.' This, and much more, was said as fast as he could utter it. . . We then walked over the [[pleasure ground]]s in front and a little back of the house. . .
+:“Near the point of land a superb but ancient house built of stone is situated. In the front, which commends an extensive and most enchanting [[prospect]], is a [[piazza]], supported on large [[pillar]]s, and furnished with chairs and sofas, like an elegant room. Here we found Mr. H., at his ease, smoking his cigar. He instantly recognized Mr. Pickering, and expressed much joy at seeing him. On Mr. Pickering introducing me, he took me by the hand with a pretty hard squeeze. 'Ah, [[Manasseh Cutler|Dr. Cutler]], I am glad to see you at last. I have long felt disposed to be angry that I should hear of you so often at Philadelphia, and passing to and from the southward, and yet never make me a visit, and Dr. Muhlenburg, of Lancaster, a few days ago, made to me the same complaint. Come, gentlemen, walk in and take some refreshments, for I have much to show you, and it will directly be night.' This, and much more, was said as fast as he could utter it. . . We then walked over the [[pleasure ground]]s in front and a little back of the house. . .
 :“. . . We retired to the house. The table was spread with decanters of different wines, and tea was served.
 :“Immediately after, another table was loaded with large botanical books, containing most excellent drawings of plants, such as I never could have conceived. He is himself an excellent botanist. . . When we turned to rare plants, one of the gardeners would be called, and sent with lanterns to the [[green-house]] to fetch me a specimen to compare with it. This was done perhaps twenty times.
@@ Line 231: / Line 231: @@
-*[[Jefferson, Thomas]], July 14, 1808, in a letter to Monsieur de la Cépèd (1944: 373)<ref name="Jefferson 1944">Thomas Jefferson, ''The Garden Book'', ed. Edwin M. Betts (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1944), [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/8ZA5VRP5 view on Zotero].</ref>
+*[[Thomas Jefferson|Jefferson, Thomas]], July 14, 1808, in a letter to Monsieur de la Cépèd (1944: 373)<ref name="Jefferson 1944">Thomas Jefferson, ''The Garden Book'', ed. Edwin M. Betts (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1944), [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/8ZA5VRP5 view on Zotero].</ref>
 :“In the meantime, the plants of which he [Governor Lewis] brought seeds, have been very successfully raised in the [[botanical garden]] of Mr. Hamilton of [[the Woodlands]], and by [[Bernard M’Mahon|Mr. McMahon]], a gardener of Philadelphia.”

@@ Line 260: / Line 260: @@
 Image:0826.jpg|James Peller Malcolm, ''[[The Woodlands]] From the Bridge at Gray’s Ferry'', c. 1792&ndash;94, in Beth C. Wees and Medill H. Harvey, ''Early American Silver in the Metropolitan Museum of Art'' (2013), 259.
-Image:0827.jpg|William Groombridge, ''[[The Woodlands]], the Seat of William Hamilton, Esq.,'' 1793.
+Image:2254.jpg|William Groombridge, ''[[The Woodlands]], the Seat of William Hamilton, Esq.,'' 1793. Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Sterling Morton for the Preston Morton Collection.
 File:2118.jpg|Charles Drayton I, Sketch of [[The Woodlands]], Seat of William Hamilton, in the Diary of Charles Drayton I, 1806.

@@ Line 268: / Line 268: @@
 File:2114.jpg|Pavel Petrovich Svinin, ''View of Morrisville, General Moreau’s Country House in Pennsylvania, Possibly [[The Woodlands]], Pennsylvania'', c. 1811&mdash;13.
-Image:0051.jpg|William Strickland, “[[The Woodlands]],” 1809, in the ''Casket'' 5 (Oct. 1830): 432.
+Image:0051.jpg|William Strickland, “[[The Woodlands]],” 1809, in the ''Casket'' 5 (Oct. 1830): pl. opp. 432.
 </gallery>

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:49, January 17, 2020
Line 212:		Line 212:


−	*~~[[William Birch\|~~Birch, William Russell]], 1808, ''The Country Seats of the United States of North America'' (1808: unpaginated)<ref>William Russell Birch, ''The Country Seats of the United States'', ed. Emily Cooperman (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009), 68, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/TNTZAF2Q view on Zotero].</ref>	+	*Birch, William Russell, 1808, ''The Country Seats of the United States of North America'' (1808: unpaginated)<ref>William Russell Birch, ''The Country Seats of the United States'', ed. Emily Cooperman (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009), 68, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/TNTZAF2Q view on Zotero].</ref>
	:“This noble demesne has long been the pride of Pennsylvania. The beauties of nature and the rarities of art, not more than the hospitality of the owner, attract to it many visitors. It is charmingly situated on the winding [[Schuylkill River\|Schuylkill]] and commands one of the most superb water scenes that can be imagined. The ground is laid out in good taste. There are a [[hothouse\|Hot house]] and [[greenhouse\|green house]] containing a collection in the horticultural department, unequalled perhaps in the Unites States. Paintings &c. of the first master embellish the interior of the house and do credit to Mr. Wm. Hamilton, as a man of refined taste.” [Fig. 3]		:“This noble demesne has long been the pride of Pennsylvania. The beauties of nature and the rarities of art, not more than the hospitality of the owner, attract to it many visitors. It is charmingly situated on the winding [[Schuylkill River\|Schuylkill]] and commands one of the most superb water scenes that can be imagined. The ground is laid out in good taste. There are a [[hothouse\|Hot house]] and [[greenhouse\|green house]] containing a collection in the horticultural department, unequalled perhaps in the Unites States. Paintings &c. of the first master embellish the interior of the house and do credit to Mr. Wm. Hamilton, as a man of refined taste.” [Fig. 3]

@@ Line 105: / Line 105: @@
-*Hamilton, William, March 17, 1792, in a letter from [[The Woodlands]] to [[George Washington]]<ref>Washington Papers, [http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-10-02-0068 ''Founders Online'', National Archives].</ref></ref>
+*Hamilton, William, March 17, 1792, in a letter from [[The Woodlands]] to [[George Washington]]<ref>Washington Papers, [http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-10-02-0068 ''Founders Online'', National Archives].</ref>
 :“I will with great pleasure forward you on Monday whatever is in my power of the kinds of plants you desire & will prepare them in the best manner for the voyage.
 :“The time being short, I am uncertain at what time of the day they may be ready. You need not therefore send for them. I will have them deliver’d at your House in the course of it.”

@@ Line 201: / Line 201: @@
-*<div id="Drayton"></div>[[Charles Drayton|Drayton, Charles]], November 2, 1806, describing [[The Woodlands]] (1806: 49, 55&ndash;57)<ref>Charles Drayton, “The Diary of Charles Drayton I, 1806,” 1806, Drayton Hall: A National Historic Trust Site, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/HAARCGXN view on Zotero].</ref> [[#Drayton_cite|back up to History]]
+*<div id="Drayton"></div>Drayton, Charles, November 2, 1806, describing [[The Woodlands]] (1806: 49, 55&ndash;57)<ref>Charles Drayton, “The Diary of Charles Drayton I, 1806,” 1806, Drayton Hall: A National Historic Trust Site, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/HAARCGXN view on Zotero].</ref> [[#Drayton_cite|back up to History]]
 :“Dined at Mr. Hamilton’s, at his elegant [[seat]] about 3 miles from Philadelphia. . . .
 :“The <u>[[Conservatory]]</u> consists of a [[green house]], & 2 [[hot house]]s&mdash;one being at each end of it. The [[green house]] may be about 50 feet long. The front only is glazed. Scaffolds are erected, one higher than another, on which the plants in [[pot]]s or tubs are placed&mdash;so that it is representing the declivity of a mountain. At each end are step-ladders for the purpose of going on each stage to water the plants&mdash;& to a walk at the back-[[wall]]. On the floor a walk of 5 or 6 feet extends along the glazed [[wall]] & at each end a door opens into an [[Hot house]]&mdash;so that a long walk extends in one line along the stove [[wall]]s of the houses & the glazed [[wall]] of the [[green house]].

@@ Line 208: / Line 208: @@
 *<div id="Jefferson"></div>[[Thomas Jefferson|Jefferson, Thomas]], March 22, 1807, in a letter from Washington to William Hamilton<ref>Jefferson Papers, [http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-5329 ''Founders Online'', National Archives].</ref> [[#Jefferson_cite|back up to History]]
-:“It is with great pleasure that, at the request of Govenor Lewis, I send you the seeds now inclosed, being a part of the Botanical fruits of his journey across the continent: I cannot but hope that some of them will be found to add useful or agreeable varieties to what we now possess. these, with the descriptions of plants, which, not being in seed at the time, he could not bring, will add considerably to our Botanical possessions. he will equally add to the Natural history of our country. on the whole, the result confirms me in my first opinion that he was the fittest person in the world for such an expedition. he will be with you shortly at Philadelphia, where I have no doubt you will be so kind as to shew him those civilities which you so readily bestow on worth. I send a similar packet to [[Bernard M'Mahon|mr McMahon]], to take the chance of a double treatment. in confiding these public deposits to your & his hands, I am sure I make the best possible disposition of them.”
+:“It is with great pleasure that, at the request of Govenor Lewis, I send you the seeds now inclosed, being a part of the Botanical fruits of his journey across the continent: I cannot but hope that some of them will be found to add useful or agreeable varieties to what we now possess. these, with the descriptions of plants, which, not being in seed at the time, he could not bring, will add considerably to our Botanical possessions. he will equally add to the Natural history of our country. on the whole, the result confirms me in my first opinion that he was the fittest person in the world for such an expedition. he will be with you shortly at Philadelphia, where I have no doubt you will be so kind as to shew him those civilities which you so readily bestow on worth. I send a similar packet to [[Bernard M’Mahon|mr McMahon]], to take the chance of a double treatment. in confiding these public deposits to your & his hands, I am sure I make the best possible disposition of them.”
 [[File:0304.jpg|thumb|Fig. 3, William Russell Birch, “Woodlands, the Seat of Mr. Wm. Hamilton, Pennsylva.,” 1808, in William Russell Birch, ''The Country Seats of the United States'', ed. Emily Cooperman (2009), 69, pl. 14.]]
@@ Line 232: / Line 232: @@
 *[[Jefferson, Thomas]], July 14, 1808, in a letter to Monsieur de la Cépèd (1944: 373)<ref name="Jefferson 1944">Thomas Jefferson, ''The Garden Book'', ed. Edwin M. Betts (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1944), [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/8ZA5VRP5 view on Zotero].</ref>
-:“In the meantime, the plants of which he [Governor Lewis] brought seeds, have been very successfully raised in the [[botanical garden]] of Mr. Hamilton of [[the Woodlands]], and by [[Bernard M'Mahon|Mr. McMahon]], a gardener of Philadelphia.”
+:“In the meantime, the plants of which he [Governor Lewis] brought seeds, have been very successfully raised in the [[botanical garden]] of Mr. Hamilton of [[the Woodlands]], and by [[Bernard M’Mahon|Mr. McMahon]], a gardener of Philadelphia.”
-*[[Bernard M'Mahon|M'Mahon, Bernard]], January 3, 1809, letter from Philadelphia to [[Thomas Jefferson]] (quoted in Long 1991: 149)<ref>Letter from Bernard M'Mahon to Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress, quoted in Long 1991, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/JQS7HETZ view on Zotero].</ref>
+*[[Bernard M’Mahon|M'Mahon, Bernard]], January 3, 1809, letter from Philadelphia to [[Thomas Jefferson]] (quoted in Long 1991: 149)<ref>Letter from Bernard M'Mahon to Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress, quoted in Long 1991, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/JQS7HETZ view on Zotero].</ref>
 :“I have from time to time given Mr. Hamilton a great variety of plants, and altho’ he is in every respect a particular friend of mine, he never offered me one in return; and I did not think it prudent to ask him, lest it should terminate that friendship; as I well know his jealousy of any person’s attempt to vie with him, in a collection of plants.”

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 William Hamilton was a renowned amateur horticulturalist and botanist whose [[Schuylkill River]] estate, [[The Woodlands]], was one of the premier examples of the [[English style]] of architecture and landscape design in the United States during the late 18th and early 19th centuries [Fig. 1]. He was born into a wealthy and prominent Philadelphia family, and, although he studied law at the College of Philadelphia, he never pursued a professional career.<ref>Hamilton was the grandson of the famous colonial lawyer and politician Andrew Hamilton (1676?&ndash;1741), who is best known for successfully defending the freedom of the press in the 1735 trial of the New York printer John Peter Zenger. Aaron V. Wunsch, ''Woodlands Cemetery'', Historic American Landscapes Survey PA-5 (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 2004), 8, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/U4GPMNJT view on Zotero]; Richard J. Betts, “The Woodlands,” ''Winterthur Portfolio'' 14, no. 3 (Autumn 1979): 221, 223&ndash;24, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/ANUFI943 view on Zotero].</ref> Instead, as Catherine E. Kelly has noted, Hamilton “adopt[ed] the life of a leisured, landed gentleman”&mdash;an option made possible by his elite social position and family resources.<ref>Hamilton earned income by leasing land he had inherited from his father and his uncle, James Hamilton (1715?&ndash;1783); see Catherine E. Kelly, ''Republic of Taste: Art, Politics, and Everyday Life in Early America'' (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016), 122, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/ITZQPX44 view on Zotero].</ref> Hamilton treated “[[The Woodlands]] as his principle occupation,” according to Timothy Preston Long, spending a large share of his fortune “to perfect it as a work of art and to provide for himself a place for contemplation and scientific inquiry in agreeable retirement.”<ref>Timothy Preston Long, “The Woodlands: A ‘Matchless Place,’” (master’s thesis, University of Pennsylvania, 1991), 68, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/FMAT4ZTF view on Zotero].</ref> <span id="Niemcewicz_cite"></span> One 1798 visitor to the estate reported that the proprietor was so consumed with [[The Woodlands]] that he seemed “interested only in his house, his [[hothouse]] and his Madeira” ([[#Niemcewicz|view text]]).
-Hamilton, who, according to Kelly, was a “confirmed loyalist and passionate Anglophile,” and looked toward English landscape theory and practice for models as he developed [[The Woodlands]].<ref>Kelly 2016, 120. For a discussion of Hamilton’s politics, especially during and immediately after the American Revolution, see also pages 125&ndash;30, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/ITZQPX44 view on Zotero].</ref> Soon after he came of age and took control of the property in the late 1760s, Hamilton began making significant changes to the grounds. <span id="Hamilton 1779_cite"></span> He constructed a new mansion, enclosed 100 acres of land “to make a small [[park]]” ([[#Hamilton 1779|view text]]), <span id="Hamilton April 1779_cite"></span> and cut down “the Central [[Wood]]” in order to improve the view of Philadelphia from the estate ([[#Hamilton April 1779|view text]]). However, Hamilton’s ambitions for [[The Woodlands]] grew during a nineteen-month trip to England from 1784&ndash;86.<ref>In 1784, the year after the American Revolutionary War ended, Hamilton traveled to England to settle financial matters related to the estate of his recently deceased uncle, James Hamilton (1715?&ndash;1783). Although loyal to the Crown, the Hamiltons had managed to survive the Revolution with their property holdings intact, but their finances&mdash;like those of most elite families in Philadelphia&mdash;were in a state of complete disorder. James A. Jacobs, ''The Woodlands (Revised Documentation)'', Historic American Buildings Survey PA-1125 (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service), 50, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/RCRIUGFR view on Zotero].</ref> While there, he toured regions of the countryside known for [[picturesque]] landscape gardens, such as Buckinghamshire, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, and Herfordshire, and he soon began making plans for a major renovation of his own house and gardens.<ref>Wunsch 2004, 8, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/U4GPMNJT view on Zotero]; Betts 1979, 225&ndash;26, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/ANUFI943 view on Zotero]. As Wunsch and Elizabeth Milroy have argued, Hamilton’s plans for The Woodlands reveal the proprietor’s familiarity with principles advanced by some of the leading theorists and practitioners of English landscape and garden design during the period, including Lancelot “Capability” Brown (1716&ndash;1783), Thomas Whately (1726&ndash;1772), and the nurseryman Nathaniel Swinden (active c. 1768&ndash;1805). Wunsch 2004, 1, 8&ndash;10 [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/U4GPMNJT view on Zotero]; Elizabeth Milroy, ''The Grid and the River: Philadelphia’s Green Places, 1682–1876'' (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2016), 130, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/VBR8QEHX view on Zotero].</ref> <span id="Hamilton September 30, 1785_cite"></span> He wrote to his personal secretary, Benjamin Hays Smith, that he desired to make the grounds at [[The Woodlands]] “smile in the same useful & beautiful manner” as the estates he had seen in England ([[#Hamilton September 30, 1785|view text]]), <span id="Hamilton September 30, 1785, 2_cite"></span> and he instructed Smith to send seeds from [[The Woodlands]] that he could trade for new specimens during his trip ([[#Hamilton September 30, 1785, 2|view text]]). <span id="Parke_cite"></span>Hamilton also shipped from England “a number of curious Flowering Shrubs and Forest Trees to be transplanted” at [[The Woodlands]] ([[#Parke|view text]]), thereby greatly increasing the botanical variety found in his garden.<ref>Wunsch 2004, 25, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/U4GPMNJT view on Zotero]. Hamilton is credited with introducing many plants species to North America, especially the ginkgo (''Ginkgo biloba''), the Lombardy poplar (''Populus nigra ‘Italica’''), the ailanthus (''Ailanthus altissima''), and the Norway maple (''Acer platanoides''). Karen Madsen, “To Make His Country Smile: William Hamilton’s Woodlands,” ''Arnoldia'' 49, no. 2 (Spring 1989): 21, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/K567H4M4 view on Zotero].</ref>
+Hamilton, who, according to Kelly, was a “confirmed loyalist and passionate Anglophile,” looked toward English landscape theory and practice for models as he developed [[The Woodlands]].<ref>Kelly 2016, 120. For a discussion of Hamilton’s politics, especially during and immediately after the American Revolution, see also pages 125&ndash;30, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/ITZQPX44 view on Zotero].</ref> Soon after he came of age and took control of the property in the late 1760s, Hamilton began making significant changes to the grounds. <span id="Hamilton 1779_cite"></span> He constructed a new mansion, enclosed 100 acres of land “to make a small [[park]]” ([[#Hamilton 1779|view text]]), <span id="Hamilton April 1779_cite"></span> and cut down “the Central [[Wood]]” in order to improve the view of Philadelphia from the estate ([[#Hamilton April 1779|view text]]). However, Hamilton’s ambitions for [[The Woodlands]] grew during a nineteen-month trip to England from 1784&ndash;86.<ref>In 1784, the year after the American Revolutionary War ended, Hamilton traveled to England to settle financial matters related to the estate of his recently deceased uncle, James Hamilton (1715?&ndash;1783). Although loyal to the Crown, the Hamiltons had managed to survive the Revolution with their property holdings intact, but their finances&mdash;like those of most elite families in Philadelphia&mdash;were in a state of complete disorder. James A. Jacobs, ''The Woodlands (Revised Documentation)'', Historic American Buildings Survey PA-1125 (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service), 50, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/RCRIUGFR view on Zotero].</ref> While there, he toured regions of the countryside known for [[picturesque]] landscape gardens, such as Buckinghamshire, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, and Herfordshire, and he soon began making plans for a major renovation of his own house and gardens.<ref>Wunsch 2004, 8, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/U4GPMNJT view on Zotero]; Betts 1979, 225&ndash;26, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/ANUFI943 view on Zotero]. As Wunsch and Elizabeth Milroy have argued, Hamilton’s plans for The Woodlands reveal the proprietor’s familiarity with principles advanced by some of the leading theorists and practitioners of English landscape and garden design during the period, including Lancelot “Capability” Brown (1716&ndash;1783), Thomas Whately (1726&ndash;1772), and the nurseryman Nathaniel Swinden (active c. 1768&ndash;1805). Wunsch 2004, 1, 8&ndash;10 [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/U4GPMNJT view on Zotero]; Elizabeth Milroy, ''The Grid and the River: Philadelphia’s Green Places, 1682–1876'' (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2016), 130, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/VBR8QEHX view on Zotero].</ref> <span id="Hamilton September 30, 1785_cite"></span> He wrote to his personal secretary, Benjamin Hays Smith, that he desired to make the grounds at [[The Woodlands]] “smile in the same useful & beautiful manner” as the estates he had seen in England ([[#Hamilton September 30, 1785|view text]]), <span id="Hamilton September 30, 1785, 2_cite"></span> and he instructed Smith to send seeds from [[The Woodlands]] that he could trade for new specimens during his trip ([[#Hamilton September 30, 1785, 2|view text]]). <span id="Parke_cite"></span>Hamilton also shipped from England “a number of curious Flowering Shrubs and Forest Trees to be transplanted” at [[The Woodlands]] ([[#Parke|view text]]), thereby greatly increasing the botanical variety found in his garden.<ref>Wunsch 2004, 25, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/U4GPMNJT view on Zotero]. Hamilton is credited with introducing many plants species to North America, especially the ginkgo (''Ginkgo biloba''), the Lombardy poplar (''Populus nigra ‘Italica’''), the ailanthus (''Ailanthus altissima''), and the Norway maple (''Acer platanoides''). Karen Madsen, “To Make His Country Smile: William Hamilton’s Woodlands,” ''Arnoldia'' 49, no. 2 (Spring 1989): 21, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/K567H4M4 view on Zotero].</ref>
 [[Image:0828.jpg|thumb|left|Fig. 2, William Hamilton, Plan for [[Kitchen Garden]] and [[Orchard]], June 1790.]]