In the following year (1753) Hill took Garrick to task for his faulty pronunciation in a pamphlet entitled ‘To David Garrick, Esq. The Petition of I. in behalf of herself and her sisters.’ To this Garrick replied with another epigram, and writing to Hawkesworth on 20 March 1759 says: ‘Such a villain sure never existed: his scheme now is abuse, and he talks of a paper call'd ye Theatre, in which his Pen will be as free as my crabstick whenever I meet his worship’ (Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. viii. 55). In all these controversies Hill invariably got the worst of it. In 1759 he commenced the publication of ‘The Vegetable System.’ This cumbrous work, consisting of twenty-six folio volumes, and containing sixteen hundred copper-plate engravings representing twenty-six thousand different plants, was undertaken by Hill at the instance of his patron Lord Bute. It was not completed until 1775, and caused Hill heavy pecuniary losses, though it gained him the order of Vasa from the king of Sweden in 1774, and he thenceforth called himself Sir John. Hill next turned quack, and applied himself to the preparation of various herb medicines, such as ‘the essence of waterdock,’ ‘tincture of valerian,’ ‘pectoral balsam of honey,’ and ‘tincture of bardana,’ by the sale of which he made considerable sums of money. Through Bute he obtained the appointment of superintendent of the Royal Gardens at Kew; the grant, however, does not appear to have been confirmed. He died of gout, a disease for which he professed to have an invaluable specific, on 21 Nov. 1775, in Golden Square, and was buried at Denham. Hill was a versatile man of unscrupulous character, with considerable abilities, great perseverance, and unlimited impudence. On the king asking Johnson what he thought of Dr. Hill, Johnson answered that ‘he was an ingenious man, but had no veracity,’ adding that he was ‘a very curious observer, and if he would have been contented to tell the world no more than he knew he might have been a very considerable man, and needed not to have recourse to such mean expedients to raise his reputation’ (Boswell, Life of Johnson, ii. 38–9). Recklessly extravagant in his style of living, Hill was ‘in a chariot one month, in jail the next for debt’ (Whiston MS. quoted in Nichol's Lit. Anecdotes, ii. 724). The greater number of his books, many of which were published anonymously or under a pseudonym, are mere trashy compilations. Some of his botanical works, however, did good service in their day, and the first Linnæan flora of Britain was due to Hill (Jackson, Guide to the Literature of Botany, xxxvi).
Hill was a justice of the peace for Westminster, a ‘member of the Imperial Academy,’ and a ‘fellow of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Bordeaux.’ According to Walpole he was at one time earning ‘fifteen guineas a week by working for wholesale dealers,’ and on the accession of George III was ‘made gardener of Kensington, a place worth two thousand pounds a year’ (Walpole, Letters, Cunningham's edit. iii. 372–3). Whiston records that ‘he was forbid Chelsea garden for making too free with it’ (Nichols, Lit. Anecdotes, ii. 724). Hill's own gardens at Bayswater, where he cultivated the plants from which he prepared his quack medicines, covered the site of Lancaster Gate.
Hill married twice. His first wife, whom he married quite early in life, was a Miss Travers, the daughter of Lord Burlington's household steward. His second wife was the Hon. Henrietta Jones, sister of Charles, fourth viscount Ranelagh. She survived her husband, and in 1788 wrote ‘An Address to the Public … setting forth the consequences of the late Sir John Hill's acquaintance with the Earl of Bute,’ in which she attributed the loss of her husband's fortune and health to Bute.
Hill contributed many articles to the ‘Supplement to Mr. Chambers's Cyclopædia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences’ (1753), which was edited by George Lewis Scott. The authorship of Mrs. Glasse's ‘Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy,’ published anonymously in 1747, has been frequently, though erroneously, attributed to him [see Glasse, Hannah]. The British Museum possesses several satirical prints containing allusions to Hill (Cat. of Prints and Drawings, 1877, vol. iii. pt. ii. Nos. 3183, 3184, 3185, 3187, 3212, 3213, and 3279). His portrait was painted by F. Cotes in 1757, and engraved by R. Houston.
Hill's separate publications were: 1. ‘Orpheus, an Opera,’ London, 1740, fol. 2. ‘An answer to the … lyes advanc'd by Mr. John Rich, Harlequin; and contain'd in a Pamphlet, which he … calls an Answer to Mr. Hill's Preface to Orpheus,’ London, 1740, 8vo. 3. ‘Θεοφράστου τοῦ Ἐρεσίου περὶ τῶν λίθων βιβλίον. Theophrastus's History of Stones. With an English version, and … Notes. … By John Hill. To which are added two Letters … on the Colours of the Sapphire and Turquoise, and … upon the effects of different Menstruums on Copper &c.,’ London, 1746, 8vo; in Greek and English; second edition enlarged, London, 1774, 8vo. 4. ‘A Complete History of Drugs. Written in French by … Pomet. … To which is added what is farther observable on the same subject from … Lemery and
