tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">²Example, made good what I have ſaid on this Occaſion. The Ancient and beſt Magiſtrates of Rome allow'd but the Ninth Day for the City and Publick Buſineſs; the reſt for the Country and the Sallet Garden: There were then fewer Cauſes indeed at the Bar; but never greater Juſtice, nor better Judges and Advocates. And 'tis hence obſerved, that we hardly find a Great and Wise Man among the Ancients, qui nullos habuit hortos, [pg] excepting only Pomponius Atticus; wilſt his Dear Cicero profeſſes, that he never laid out his Money more readily, than in the purchaſing of Gardens, and thoſe ſweet Retirements, for which he ſo often left the Roſtra (and Court of the Greateſt and moſt flouriſhing State of the World) to viſit, prune, and water them with his own Hands.

But, My Lord, I forget with whom I am talking thus; and a Gardiner ought not to be ſo bold. The preſent I humbly make your Lordſhip, is indeed but a Sallet of Crude Herbs: But there is among them that which was a Prize at the Iſthmian Games; and Your Lordſhip knows who it was both accepted, and rewarded as deſpicable [pg] an Oblation of this kind. The Favor I humbly beg, is Your Lordſhip's Pardon for this Preſumption. The Subject is mean, and requires it, and my Reputation in danger; should Your Lordſhip hence ſuſpect that one could never write ſo much of dreſſing Sallets, who minded anything ſerious, beſides the gratifying a Senſual Appetite with a Voluptuary Apician Art.

Truly, My Lord, I am ſo far from deſigning to promote thoſe Supplicia Luxuriæ, (as Seneca calls them) by what I have here written; that were it in my Power, I would recall the World, if not altogether to their Priſtine Diet, yet to a much more wholſome and temperate than is now in Faſhion: And what if they find me [pg] like to ſome who are eager after Hunting and other Field-Sports, which are Laborious Exerciſes? and Fiſhing, which is indeed a Lazy one? who, after all their Pains and Fatigue, never eat what they take and catch in either: For ſome ſuch I have known: And tho' I cannot affirm ſo of my ſelf, (when a well dreſt and excellent Sallet is before me) I am yet a very moderate Eater of them. So as to this Book-Luxury, I can affirm, and that truly what the Poet ſays of himſelf (on a leſs innocent Occaſion) Laſciva pagina, vita proba. God forbid, that after all I have advanc'd in Praiſe of Sallets, I ſhould be thought to plead for the Vice I cenſure, and chuſe that of Epicurus for my Lemma; In hac arte [pg] conſenui; or to have ſpent my time in nothing elſe. The Plan annext to theſe Papers, and the Apparatus made to ſuperſtruct upon it, would acquit me of having bent all my Contemplations on Sallets only. What I humbly offer Your Lordſhip, is (as I ſaid) Part of Natural Hiſtory, the Product of Horticulture, and the Field, dignified by the moſt illuſtrious, and ſometimes tilled Laureato Vomere; which, as it concerns a Part of Philoſophy, I may (without Vanity) be allow'd to have taken ſome Pains in Cultivating, as an inferior Member of the Royal Society.

But, My Lord, wilſt You read on (if at leaſt You vouchſafe me that Honor to read at all) I am conſcious [pg] I rob the Publick of its moſt Precious Moments.

I therefore Humbly again Implore Your Lordſhip's Pardon: Nor indeed needed I to have ſaid half this, to kindle in Your Breaſt, that which is already ſhining there (Your Lordſhip's Eſteem of the Royal Society) after what You were pleas'd to Expreſs in ſuch an Obliging manner, when it was lately to wait upon Your Lordſhip; among whom I had the Honor to be a Witneſs of Your Generous, and Favourable Acceptance of their Addreſſes, who am,

My Lord,             
Your Lordſhip's Moſt Humble       
and Moſt Obedient Servant,   
JOHN EVELYN.

[pg]

THE PREFACE

T he Favourable Entertainment which the Kalendar has found, encouraging the Bookſeller to adventure upon a Ninth Impreſſion, I could not refuſe his Requeſt of my Reviſing, and Giving it the beſt Improvement I was capable, to an Inexhauſtible Subject, as it regards a Part of Horticulture; and offer ſome little Aid to ſuch as love a Diverſion ſo Innocent and Laudable. There are thoſe of late, who have arrogated, and given the Glorious Title of Compleat and Accompliſh'd Gardiners, to what they have Publiſh'd; as if there were nothing wanting, nothing more remaining, or farther to be expected from the Field; and that Nature had been quite emptied of all her fertile Store: Whilſt thoſe who thus magnifie their Diſcoveries, have after all, penetrated but a very little Way into this Vaſt, Ample, and as yet, Unknown Territory; Who ſee not, that it would ſtill require the Revolution of many Ages; deep, and long Experience, for any Man to Emerge that Perfect, and Accompliſh'd Artiſt Gardiner they boaſt themſelves to be: Nor do I think, Men will ever reach the End, and far extended Limits of the Vegetable [pg] Kingdom, ſo incomprehenſible is the Variety it every Day produces, of the moſt Uſeful, and Admirable of all the Aſpectable Works of God; ſince almoſt all we ſee, and touch, and taſte, and ſmell, eat and drink, are clad with, and defended (from the Greateſt Prince to the Meaneſt Peaſant) is furniſhed from that Great and Univerſal Plantation, Epitomiz'd in our Gardens, highly worth the Contemplation of the moſt Profound Divine, and Deepeſt Philosopher.

I ſhould be aſham'd to acknowledge how little I have advanced, could I find that ever any Mortal Man from Adam, Noah, Solomon, Ariſtotle, Theophraſtus, Dioſcorides, and the reſt of Nature's Interpreters, had ever arriv'd to the perfect Knowledge of any one Plant, or Vulgar Weed whatſoever: But this perhaps may yet poſſibly be reſerv'd for another State of Things, and a ³longer Day; that is, When Time ſhall be no more, but Knowledge ſhall be encreas'd.

We have heard of one who ſtudied and contemplated the Nature of Bees only, for Sixty Years: After which, you will not wonder, that a Perſon of my Acquaintance, ſhould have ſpent [pg] almoſt Forty, in Gathering and Amaſſing Materials for an Hortulan Deſign, to ſo enormous an Heap, as to fill ſome Thouſand Pages; and yet be comprehended within two, or three Acres of Ground; nay, within the Square of leſs than One (ſkilfully Planted and Cultivated) ſufficient to furniſh, and entertain his Time and Thoughts all his Life long, with a moſt Innocent, Agreeable, and Uſeful Employment. But you may juſtly wonder, and Condemn the Vanity of it too, with that Reproach, This Man began to build, but was not able to finiſh! This has been the Fate of that Undertaking; and I dare promiſe, will be of