Miscellanea. The second part in four essays / by Sir William Temple ...

ESSAY II. Upon the Gardens of Epicurus, or of Gardening in the Year 1685. (Book 2)

THE same Faculty of Reason, which gives Mankind the great Advantage and Prerogative over the rest of the Creation, seems to make the greatest Default of Humane Nature; and subjects it to more Troubles, Mise∣ries, or at least Disquiets of Life, than any of its Fellow Creatures: 'Tis this fur∣nishes us with such variety of Passions, and consequently of Wants and Desires, that none other feels; and these follow∣ed by infinite Designs and endless Pur∣suits, and improved by that restlesness of thought, which is natural to most Men, give him a condition of Life suit∣able to that of his Birth; so that as he alone is born crying, he lives com∣plaining, and dies disappointed.

Since we cannot escape the pursuit

of Passions, and perplexity of Thoughts, which our Reason furnishes us, there is no way left, but to endeavour all we can, either to subdue or to divert them. This last is the common business of common Men, who seek it by all sorts of Sports, Pleasures, Play, or Bu∣siness. But because the two first are of short continuance, soon ending with weariness, or decay of Vigour and Ap∣petite, the return whereof must be at∣tended, before the others can be renew∣ed; and because Play grows dull, if it be not enlivened with the Hopes of Gain, the general Diversion of Man∣kind seems to be Business, or the pur∣suit of Riches in one kind or other, which is an amusement, that has this one advantage above all others, that it lasts those Men who engage in it, to the very ends of their Lives; none e∣ver growing too old for the Thoughts and Desires of increasing his Wealth and Fortunes, either for himself, his Friends, or his Posterity.

In the first and most simple Ages of each Country, the Conditions and Lives of Men seem to have been very near of Kin with the rest of the Creatures; they lived by the Hour, or by the Day, and

satisfied their Appetite with what they could get, from the Herbs, the Fruits, the Springs they met with, when they were hungry or dry; then, with what Fish, Fowl or Beasts they could kill, by Swiftness or Strength, by Craft or Con∣trivance, by their Hands or such Instru∣ments as Wit helped, or Necessity for∣ced them to invent. When a Man had got enough for the day, he laid up the rest for the morrow, and spent one day in labour, that he might pass the other at ease; and lured on by the Pleasure of this Bait, when he was in Vigour, and His Game fortunate, he would pro∣vide for as many days as he could, both for himself and his Children, that were too young to seek out for themselves. Then he cast about, how by sowing of Grain, and by Pasture of the tamer Cattle, to provide for the whole year. After this, dividing the Lands necessary for these Uses, first among Children, and then among Servants, he reserved to him∣self a Proportion of their Gain, either in the native Stock, or something equi∣valent, which brought in the use of Mo∣ny; and where this once came in, none was to be satisfied, without having e∣nough for himself and his Family, and

all His and their Posterity for ever; so that I know a certain Lord who pro∣fesses to value no Lease though for an hundred or a thousand years, nor any Estate or Possession of Land that is not for ever and ever.

From such small Beginnings have grown such vast and extravagant De∣signs of poor mortal Men: Yet none could ever answer the naked Indian, Why one Man should take pains, and run Hazards by Sea and Land all his Life, that his Children might be safe and lazy all theirs: And the Precept of taking no care for to morrow, though never minded as impracticable in the World, seems but to reduce Mankind to their natural and original Condition of Life. However by these ways and degrees the endless increase of Riches, seems to be grown the perpetual and general amusement or business of Man∣kind.

Somefew in each Country make those higher Flights after Honour and Power, and to these ends sacrifice their Riches, their Labour, their Thought, and their Lives; and nothing diverts nor busies Men more, than these pursuits, which are usually covered with the Pretences,

of serving a Mans Country, and of Publick Good. But the true Service of the Publick is a business of so much Labour and so much Care, that though a good and wise Man may not refuse it, if he be called to it by his Prince or his Country, and thinks he can be of more than vulgar use, yet he will sel∣dom or never seek it, but leaves it com∣monly to Men, who under the disguise of Publick Good, pursue their own de∣signs of Wealth, Power, and such Ba∣stard Honours as usually attend them, not that which is the true and only true Reward of Vertue.

The pursuits of Ambition, though not so general, yet are as endless as those of Riches, and as extravagant; since none ever yet thought he had Power or Em∣pire enough: And what Prince soever seems to be so great, as to live and reign without any further desires or fears, falls into the Life of a private Man, and enjoys but those Pleasures and Entertainments, which a great ma∣ny several Degrees of private Fortune will allow, and as much as Humane Nature is capable of enjoying.

The Pleasures of the Senses grow a little more choice and refined, those of

Imagination are turned upon embelish∣ing the Scenes He chooses to live in; Ease, Conveniency, Elegancy, Magnifi∣cence, are sought in Building first, and then in furnishing Houses or Palaces: The admirable imitations of Nature are introduced by Pictures, Statues, Ta∣pestry, and other such Atchievements of Arts. And the most exquisite delights of Sense are pursued, in the Contrivance and Plantations of Gardens, which, with Fruits, Flowers, Shades, Fountains, and the Musick of Birds that frequent such happy places, seem to furnish all the pleasures of the several Senses, and with the greatest, or at least the most natural Perfections.

Thus the first Race of Assyrian Kings, after the Conquest of Ninus and Semi∣ramis, passed their Lives, till their Em∣pire fell to the Medes. Thus the Caliphs of Egypt, till deposed by their Mama∣lukes. Thus passed the latter parts of those great Lives of Scipio, Lucullus, Au∣gustus, Dioclesian. Thus turned the great Thoughts of Henry the Second of France, after the end of his Wars with Spain. Thus the present King of Mo∣rocco, after having subdued all his Com∣petitors, passes His Life in a Country

Villa, gives Audience in a Grove of Orange-trees planted among purling Streams. And thus the King of France, after all the Successes of His Counsels or Arms, and in the mighty Elevation of His present Greatness and Power, when He gives Himself leasure from such Designs or Pursuits, passes the softer and easier parts of His time in Country Houses and Gardens, in build∣ing, planting or adorning the Scenes, or in the common Sports and Entertain∣ments of such kind of Lives. And those mighty Emperors, who contented not themselves with these Pleasures of com∣mon Humanity, fell into the Frantick or the Extra vagant; they pretended to be Gods, or turned to be Devils, as Cali∣gula and Nero, and too many others, known enough in Story.

Whilst Mankind is thus generally bu∣side or amused, that part of them, who have had either the Justice or the Luck, to pass in common Opinion, for the wi∣sest and best part among them, have followed another and very different Sent; and instead of the common de∣signs of satisfying their Appetites and their Passions, and making endless Pro∣visions

for both, they have chosen what they thought a nearer and a surer way to the ease and felicity of Life, by en∣deavouring to subdue, or at least to tem∣per their Passions, and reduce their Ap∣petites to what Nature seems only to ask and to need. And this design seems to have brought Philosophy into the World, at least that which is termed Moral, and appears to have an end, not only desirable by every Man, which is the Ease and Happiness of Life, but also in some degree suitable to the force and reach of humane Nature: For as to that part of Philosophy, which is called Natural, I know no end it can have, but that, of either busying a Man's Brains to no purpose, or satisfying the Vanity, so natural to most Men, of di∣stinguishing themselves by some way or other, from those that seem their Equals in Birth, and the common advantages of it; and whether this distinction be made by Wealth or Power, or appea∣rance of Knowledg, which gains Esteem and Applause in the World, is all a case. More than this, I know no Ad∣vantage Mankind has gained, by the progress of Natural Philosophy, during so many Ages it has had Vogue in the

World, excepting always, and very justly, what we owe to the Mathema∣ticks, which is in a manner, all that seems valuable among the Civilized Na∣tions, more than those we call Barba∣rous, whether they are so or no, or more so than our selves.

How ancient this Natural Philosophy has been in the World, is hard to know, for we find frequent mention of ancient Philosophers in this kind, among the most ancient now extant with us. The first who found out the Vanity of it, seems to have been Solomon, of which Discovery he has left such admirable strains in Ecclesiastes. The next was So∣crates, who made it the business of His Life, to explode it, and introduce that which we call Moral in its place, to bu∣sie Human Minds to better purpose. And indeed, whoever reads with Thought what these two, and Marcus Antoninus have said, upon the Vanity of all that mortal Man can ever attain to know of Nature, in its Originals or Operations, may save Himself a great deal of Pains, and justly conclude, That the Knowledg of such things is not our Game; and (like the pursuit of a Stag by a little Spaniel) may serve to amuse

and to weary us, but will never be hun∣ted down. Yet I think those Three I have named, may justly pass for the wisest Triumvirate that are left us, upon the Records of Story or of Time.

After Socrates, who left nothing in wri∣ting, many Sects of Philosophers began to spread in Greece, who entred boldly upon both parts of Natural and Moral Philosophy. The first, with the great∣est Disagreement, and the most eager Contention that could be, upon the greatest Subjects: As, Whether the World were Eternal, or produced at some certain time? Whether if pro∣duced, it was by some eternal Mind, and to some end, or by the fortuitous Concourse of Atoms, or some Particles of Eternal Matter? Whether there was one World or many? Whether the Soul of Man was a part of some Aethereal and Eternal Substance, or was Corporeal? Whether if Eternal, it was so before it came into the Body, or only after it went out? There were the same Con∣tentions about the Motions of the Hea∣vens, the Magnitude of the Celestial Bodies, the Faculties of the Mind, and the Judgment of the Senses. But all the

different Schemes of Nature that have been drawn of old or of late by Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Des-Cartes, Hobs, or any other that I know of, seem to agree but in one thing, which is, The want of Demonstration or Satisfaction, to any thinking and unpossessed Man, and seem more or less probable one than another, according to the Wit and Eloquence of the Authors and Advocates that raise or defend them; like Juglers Tricks, that have more or less appearance of being real, according to the dextrousness and skill of Him that plays 'em; whereas perhaps if we were capable of knowing Truth and Nature, these fine Schemes would prove like Rover Shots, some nearer and some further off, but all at great distance from the Mark, it may be none in sight.

Yet in the midst of these and many other such Disputes and Contentions in their Natural Philosophy, they seemed to agree much better in their Moral, and upon their Enquires after the Ultimate End of Man, which was His Happiness; their Contentions or Differences seemed to be rather in Words than in the Sense of their Opinions, or in the true mean∣ing of their several Authors or Masters

of their Sects: All concluded, that Hap∣piness was the Chief Good, and ought to be the Ultimate End of Man; that as this was the end of Wisdom, so Wis∣dom was the way to Happiness. The Question then was, in what this Happi∣ness consisted. The Contention grew warmest between the Stoicks and Epicu∣reans, the other Sects in this point siding in a manner with one or the other of these, in their Conceptions or Expressions. The Stoicks would have it to consist in Vertue, and the Epicureans in Pleasure; yet the most reasonable of the Stoicks made the pleasure of Vertue to be the greatest Happiness; and the best of the Epicureans made the greatest Pleasure to consist in Vertue; and the difference between these two seems not easily dis∣covered: All agreed, the greatest Tem∣per, if not the total subduing of Passion, and exercise of Reason, to be the state of the greatest Felicity: To live with∣out Desires or Fears, or those Per∣turbations of Mind and Thought, which Passions raise: To place true Riches in wanting little, rather than in possessing much; and true Pleasure in Temperance, rather than in satisfying the Senses: To live with indifference to

the common Enjoyments and Accidents of Life, and with Constancy upon the greatest Blows of Fate or of Chance; Not to disturb our Minds with sad Re∣flections upon what is past, nor with anxious Cares or raving Hopes about what is to come; neither to disquiet Life with the Fears of Death, nor Death with the Desires of Life; but in both and in all things else, to follow Nature, seem to be the Precepts most agreed among them.

Thus Reason seems only to have been called in, to allay those Disorders which it self had raised, to cure its own Wounds, and pretends to make us wise no other way, than by rendring us insensible. This at least was the Profession of many rigid Stoicks, who would have had a wise Man, not only without any sort of Passion, but without any Sense of Pain, as well as Pleasure, and to enjoy Himself in the midst of Diseases and Torments, as well as of Health and Ease; a Princi∣ple, in my mind, against common Na∣ture and common Sense, and which might have told us in fewer Words, or with less Circumstance, that a Man to be wise, should not be a Man; and this perhaps might have been easie enough

to believe, but nothing so hard as the other.

The Epicureans were more intelligible in their Notion, and fortunate in their Expression, when they placed a Mans Happiness in the Tranquility of Mind, and Indolence of Body; for while we are composed of both, I doubt both must have a share in the good or ill we feel. As Men of several Languages, say the same things in very different Words, so in several Ages, Countries, Constitutions of Laws and Religion, the same thing seems to be meant by very different ex∣pressions; What is called by the Stoicks Apathy, or Dispassion; by the Scepticks, Indisturbance; by the Molinists, Quie∣tism; by common Men, Peace of Con∣science, seems all to mean but great Tranquility of Mind, though it be made to proceed from so diverse Causes, as Human Wisdom, Innocence of Life, or Resignation to the Will of God. An old Usurer had the same Notion, when He said, No Man could have Peace of Conscience, that run out of his Estate, not comprehending what else was meant by that Phrase, besides true Quiet and Content of Mind; which however ex∣pressed, is, I suppose, meant by all, to

be the best account that can be given of the Happiness of Man, since no Man can pretend to be happy without it.

I have often wondred, how such sharp and violent Invectives came to be made so generally against Epicurus, by the A∣ges that followed Him, whose admirable Wit, Felicity of Expression, Excellence of Nature, Sweetness of Conversation, Temperance of Life, and Constancy of Death, made Him so beloved by His Friends, admired by His Scholars, and honoured by the Athenians. But this Injustice may be fastned chiefly upon the envy and malignity of the Stoicks at first, then upon the Mistakes of some gross Pretenders to His Sect (who took Pleasure only to be Sensual) and after∣wards, upon the Piety of the Primitive Christians, who esteemed his Principles of Natural Philosophy, more opposite to those of our Religion, than either the Platonists, the Peripateticks, or Stoicks themselves: Yet I confess, I do not know why the account given by Lucretius of the Gods, should be thought more im∣pious, than that given by Homer, who makes them not only subject to all the weakest Passions, but perpetually busie in all the worst or meanest Actions of Men.

But Epicurus has found so great Ad∣vocates of His Vertue as well as Learn∣ing and Inventions, that there need no more; and the Testimonies of Diogenes Laertius alone, seem too sincere and im∣partial to be disputed, or to want the assistance of Modern Authors: If all fail∣ed, He would be but too well defended by the Excellence of so many of His Sect in all Ages, and especially of those who lived in the compass of one, but the greatest in Story, both as to Persons and Events: I need name no more than Caesar, Atticus, Mecoenas, Lucretius, Vir∣gil, Horace, all admirable in their se∣veral kinds, and perhaps unparallel'd in Story.

Caesar, if consider'd in all Lights, may justly challenge the first place in the Registers we have of Mankind, equal only to Himself, and surpassing all others of His Nation and His Age, in the Vertues and Excellencies of a Statesman, a Cap∣tain, an Orator, an Historian; besides all these, a Poet, a Philosopher when His leisure allowed Him; the greatest Man of Counsel and of Action, of Design and Execution; the greatest Nobleness of Birth, of Person, and of Countenance; the greatest Humanity, and Clemency

of nature, in the midst of the greatest Provocations, Occasions and Examples of Cruelty and Revenge; 'tis true He overturned the Laws and Constitutions of His Country, yet 'twas after so ma∣ny others had not only begun, but pro∣ceeded very far, to change and violate them; so as in what He did, He seems rather to have prevented others, than to have done what Himself designed; for though His Ambition was vast, yet it seems to have been raised to those Heights, rather by the Insolence of His Enemies, than by His own Temper; and that what was natural to Him, was only a desire of true Glory, and to ac∣quire it by good Actions as well as great, by Conquests of Barbarous Na∣tions, extent of the Roman Empire, de∣fending at first the Liberties of the Ple∣beians, opposing the Faction that had begun in Sylla and ended in Pompey; and in the whole course of His Victories and Successes, seeking all occasions of Bounty to His Friends, and Clemency to His Enemies.

Atticus appears to have been one of the wisest and best of the Romans, Learn∣ed without pretending, Good without Affectation, Bountiful without Design,

a Friend to all Men in misfortune, a Flat∣terer to no Man in Greatness or Power, a Lover of Mankind, and beloved by them all, and by these Vertues and Dis∣positions, He passed safe and untouched, through all the Flames of Civil Dissenti∣ons, that ravag'd His Country the great∣est part of His Life; and though He ne∣ver entred into any Publick Affairs, or particular Factions of His State, yet He was favoured, honoured and courted by them all, from Sylla to Augustus.

Mecaenas was the wisest Counsellour, the truest Friend, both of His Prince and His Country, the best Governor of Rome, the happiest and ablest Negocia∣tor, the best Judge of Learning and Vertue, the choicest in His Friends, and thereby the happiest in His Conversati∣on that has been known in Story; and I think, to His Conduct in Civil, and Agrippa's in Military Affairs, may be truly ascribed all the Fortunes and Greatness of Augustus, so much celebra∣ted in the World.

For Lucretius, Virgil and Horace, they deserve in my Opinion, the Honour of the greatest Philosophers, as well as the best Poets of their Nation or Age. The two first, besides what looks like some∣thing

more than Human in their Poetry, were very great Naturalists, and admi∣rable in their Morals: And Horace, be∣sides the Sweetness and Elegancy of his Lyricks, appears in the rest of His Wri∣tings, so great a Master of Life, and of true Sense in the Conduct of it, that I know none beyond him. It was no mean strain of His Philosophy, to refuse being Secretary to Augustus, when so great an Emperor so much desired it. But all the different Sects of Philoso∣phers, seem to have agreed in the Opi∣nion, of a wise Man's abstaining from Publick Affairs, which is thought the meaning of Pythagoras's Precept, To abstain from Beans, by which the Af∣fairs or publick Resolutions in Athens were managed. They thought that sort of Business too gross and material for the abstracted fineness of their Spe∣culations. They esteemed it too sordid and too artificial for the cleanness and simplicity of their Manners and Lives. They would have no part in the Faults of a Government, and they knew too well, that the Nature and Passions of Men made them incapable of any that was perfect and good, and there∣fore thought all the Service they could

do to the State they lived under, was to mend the Lives and Manners of par∣ticular Men that composed it. But where Factions were once entred and rooted in a State, they thought it madness for Good Men to meddle with Publick Af∣fairs, which made them turn their Thoughts and Entertainments to any thing rather than this; and Heraclitus, having upon the Factions of the Citi∣zens, quitted the Government of His City, and amusing Himself, to play with the Boys in the Porch of the Temple, askt those who wondred at Him, Whether 'twas not better to play with such Boys, than govern such Men? But above all, they esteemed Publick Business the most con∣trary of all others, to that Tranquility of Mind, which they esteemed and taught, to be the only true Felicity of Man.

For this reason Epicurus passed His Life wholly in His Garden; there He Studied, there He Exercised, there He taught His Philosophy; and indeed, no other sort of Abode seems to contribute so much, to both the Tranquility of Mind, and Indolence of Body, which He made His Chief Ends. The Sweet∣ness of Air, the Pleasantness of Smells,

the Verdure of Plants, the Cleanness and Lightness of Food, the Exercises of working or walking, but above all, the Exemption from Cares and Sollicitude, seem equally to favour and improve, both Contemplation and Health, the Enjoyments of Sense and Imagination, and thereby the Quiet and Ease both of the Body and Mind.

Though Epicurus be said to have been the first that had a Garden in Athens, whose Citizens before Him, had theirs in their Villaes or Farms without the City; yet the use of Gardens seems to have been the most ancient and most general of any sorts of Possession among Mankind, and to have preceded those of Corn or of Cattle, as yielding the easier, the pleasanter, and more natural Food. As it has been the Inclination of Kings, and the choice of Philosophers, so has it been the common Favourite of publick and private Men, a Pleasure of the greatest, and a Care of the meanest, and indeed an Employment and a Pos∣session, for which no Man is too high nor too low.

If we believe the Scripture, we must allow that God Almighty esteemed the Life of a Man in a Garden the happiest

He could give Him, or else He would not have placed Adam in that of Eden; that it was the state of Innocence and Pleasure; and that the Life of Husban∣dry and Cities, came in after the Fall, with Guilt and with Labour.

Where Paradise was, has been much debated, and little agreed; but what sort of place is meant by it, may per∣haps easier be conjectured. It seems to have been a Persian Word, since Ze∣nophon and other Greek Authors men∣tion it, as what was much in use and de∣light among the Kings of those Eastern Countries. Strabo describing Jericho, says, Ibi est palmetum, cui immixtae sunt, etiam aliae stirpes hortenses, locus ferax, palmis abundans, spatio stadiorum centum, totus irriguus, ibi est Regia & Balsami Paradisus. He mentions another place, to be prope Libanum & Paradisum. And Alexander is written to have seen Cyrus's Tomb in a Paradise, being a Tower not very great, and covered with a shade of Trees about it. So that a Paradise among them seems to have been a large space of Ground, adorned and beautified with all sorts of Trees, both of Fruits and of Forest, either found there before it was inclosed, or planted after; either culti∣vated

like Gardens, for Shades and for Walks, with Fountains or Streams, and all sorts of Plants usual in the Climat, and pleasant to the Eye, the Smell, or the Taste; or else employed, like our Parks, for Inclosure and Harbor of all sorts of Wild Beasts, as well as for the pleasure of riding and walking: And so they were of more or less extent, and of differing entertainment, according to the several Humours of the Princes that ordered and inclosed them.

Semiramis is the first we are told of in Story, that brought them in use through Her Empire, and was so fond of them, as to make one where ever she built, and in all or most of the Pro∣vinces she subdued, which are said to have been from Babylon as far as India. The Assyrian Kings continued this Cu∣stom and Care, or rather this Pleasure, till one of them brought in the use of smaller and more regular Gardens; For having married a Wife he was fond of, out of one of the Provinces, where such Paradises or Gardens were much in use, and the Country Lady not well bearing the Air or Inclosure of the Pa∣lace in Babylon to which the Assyrian Kings used to confine themselves, He

made Her Gardens, not only within the Palace, but upon Terrases raised with Earth, over the arched Roofs, and even upon the top of the highest Tower, planted them with all sorts of Fruit-Trees, as well as other Plants and Flow∣ers, the most pleasant of that Country, and thereby made at least the most airy Gardens, as well as the most costly, that have been heard of in the World. This Lady may probably have been Native of the Provinces of Chasimer or of Damascus, which have in all times been the happiest Regions for Fruits of all the East, by the Excellence of Soyl, the position of Mountains, the frequency of Streams rather than the Advantages of Climat. And 'tis great pity we do not yet see the History of Chasimir, which Mounsieur Bernier assured me, He had translated out of Persian, and intended to publish, and of which He has given such a tast, in His excellent Memoirs, of the Mogul's Country.

The next Gardens we read of, are those of Solomon, planted with all sorts of Fruit-Trees, and watered with Foun∣tains; and though we have no more particular Description of them, yet we may find, they were the Places where

He passed the times of His Leisure and Delight, where the Houses as well as Grounds, were adorned with all that could be of pleasing and elegant, and were the Retreats and Entertainments of those among his Wives that He loved the best; and 'tis not improbable, that the Paradises mentioned by Strabo were planted by this great and wisest King. But the Idea of the Garden must be very great, if it answers at all to that of the Gardner, who must have employed a great deal of His Care and of His Study, as well as of His Leisure and Thought in these Entertainments, since He writ of all Plants, from the Cedar to the Shrub.

What the Gardens of the Hesperides were, we have little or no account, further than the mention of them, and thereby the Testimony of their having been in use and request, in such remote∣ness of place, and Antiquity of Time.

The Garden of Alcinous described by Homer, seems wholly Poetical, and made at the pleasure of the Painter, like the rest of the Romantick Palace, in that little barren Island of Phaeacia or Corfu. Yet as all the pieces of this transcendent Genius, are composed with excellent Knowledge, as well as Fancy, so they

seldom sail of Instruction as well as De∣light to all that read Him. The Seat of this Garden, joyning to the Gates of the Palace, the Compass of the Inclo∣sure, being Four Acres, the tall Trees of Shade as well as those of Fruit, the two Fountains, one for the use of the Garden, and the other of the Palace, the continual Succession of Fruits throughout the whole Year, are, for ought I know, the best Rules or Pro∣visions, that can go towards composing the best Gardens; nor is it unlikely, that Homer may have drawn this Picture after the life of some he had seen in Ionia, the Country and usual Abode of this Divine Poet; and indeed the Re∣gion of the most refined Pleasures and Luxury, as well as Invention and Wit: For the humour and custom of Gardens may have descended earlier into the lower Asia, from Damascus, Assyria, and other parts of the Eastern Empires, though they seem to have made late En∣trance, and smaller Improvement in those of Greece and Rome, at least in no proportion to their other Inventions or Refinements of Pleasure and Luxury.

The long and flourishing Peace of the two first Empires, gave earlier rise and

growth to Learning and Civility, and all the Consequences of them, in Mag∣nificence and Elegancy of Building and Gardening; whereas Greece and Rome were almost perpetually engaged in Quarrels and Wars, either abroad or at home, and so were busie in Actions, that were done under the Sun, rather than those under the Shade. These were the Entertainments of the softer Nati∣ons, that fell under the Vertue and Prowess of the two last Empires, which from those Conquests brought home mighty Increases both of Riches and Luxury, and so perhaps lost more than they got by the Spoils of the East.

There may be another reason for the small advance of Gardning in those ex∣cellent and more temperate Climats, where the Air and Soyl were so apt of themselves, to produce the best sorts of Fruits, without the necessity of cultiva∣ting them, by labour and care; whereas the hotter Climats as well as the cold, are forced upon Industry and Skill, to produce or improve many Fruits that grow of themselves in the more tempe∣rate Regions. However it were, we have very little mention of Gardens in old Greece or in old Rome, for pleasure

or with Elegance, nor of much curious∣ness or care, to introduce the Fruits of Foreign Climats, contenting themselves with those, which were Native of their own, and these were, the Vine, the Olive, the Fig, the Pear, and the Ap∣ple; Cato, as I remember, mentions no more, and their Gardens were then but the necessary part of their Farms, in∣tended particularly for the cheap and easie Food of their Hinds or Slaves, im∣ployed in their Agriculture, and so were turned chiefly to all the common sorts of Plants, Herbs, or Legumes, (as the French call them) proper for common nourishment; and the name of Hortus is taken to be from Ortus, because it per∣petually furnishes some rise or producti∣on of something new in the World.

Lucullus, after the Mithridatick War, first brought Cherries from Pontus into Italy, which so generally pleas'd, and were so easily propagated in all Climats, that within the space of about an hundred years, having travelled Westward with the Roman Conquests, they grew common as far as the Rhine, and passed over into Britain. After the Conquest of Africk, Greece, the lesser Asia, and Syria, were brought in∣to

Italy, all the sorts of their Mala, which we interpret Apples, and might signifie no more at first, but were after∣wards applied to many other Foreign Fruits: The Apricocks coming from Epire, were called Mala Epirotica; Peaches from Persia, Mala Persica; Ci∣trons from Media, Medica; Pomgra∣nets from Carthage, Punica; Quinces, Cothonea, from a small Island in the Gre∣cian Seas; their best Pears were brought from Alexandria, Numidia, Greece and Numantia, as appears by their several Appellations: Their Plums, from Arme∣nia, Syria, but chiefly from Damascus. The kinds of these are reckon'd in Ne∣ro's time, to have been near Thirty, as well as of Figs, and many of them were entertained at Rome, with so great Ap∣plause, and so general Vogue, that the great Captains, and even Consular Men, who first brought them over, took pride in giving them their own Names, (by which they run a great while in Rome) as in memory of some great Service or Pleasure, they had done their Country; so that not only Laws and Battels, but several sorts of Apples or Mala, and of Pears, were called Manlian and Claudian, Pompeyan and Tiberian, and

by several other such Noble Names.

Thus the Fruits of Rome, in about an hundred years, came from Countries as far as their Conquests had reached, and like Learning, Architecture, Painting and Statuary, made their great advances in Italy, about the Augustan Age. What was of most request, in their common Gardens, in Virgil's time, or at least in His Youth, may be conjectured, by the Description of His old Corycian's Garden, in the Fourth of the Georgicks, which begins,

Nam{que} sub Oebaliae memini me turribus altis.

Among Flowers, the Roses had the first place, especially a kind which bore twice a year; and none other sorts are here mention'd besides the Narcissus, tho the Violet and the Lilly were very common and the next in esteem, espe∣cially the Breve Lillium, which was the Tubereuse. The Plants he mentions, are the Apium, which tho commonly inter∣preted Parsly, yet comprehends all sorts of Smallage, whereof Sellary is one, Cu∣cumis, which takes in all sorts of Me∣lons, as well as Cucumbers; Olus, which is a common Word for all sorts of Pot∣herbs

and Legumes; Verbenas, which signifies all kinds of Sweet or Sacred Plants, that were used for adorning the Altars, as Bays, Olive, Rosemary, Mir∣tle; the Acanthus seems to be what we call Pericanthe; but what their Hederae were, that deserved place in a Garden, I cannot guess, unless they had sorts of Ivy unknown to us; nor what His Ves∣cum Papaver was, since Poppies with us are of no use in eating. The Fruits mentioned, are only Apples, Pears, and Plums; for Olives, Vines, and Figs were grown to be Fruits of their Fields, rather than of their Gardens. The Shades were the Elm, the Pine, the Lime-tree, and the Platanus, or Plane-tree, whose Leaf and Shade, of all o∣thers, was the most in request; and ha∣ving been brought out of Persia, was such an Inclination among the Greeks and Romans, that they usually fed it with Wine instead of Water; they be∣lieved this Tree loved that Liquor, as well as those that used to drink under its Shade; which was a great humour and custom, and perhaps gave rise to the other, by observing the growth of the Tree, or largeness of the Leafs, where much Wine was spilt or left, and thrown upon the Roots.

'Tis great pity the hast which Virgil seems here to have been in, should have hindered Him from entring farther into the Account or Instructions of Gard∣ning, which He said He could have given, and which He seems to have so much esteemed and loved, by that admirable Picture of this old Man's Felicity, which He draws, like so great a Master, with one stroke of a Pencil, in those Four Words:

Regum aequabat opes animis.

That in the midst of these small Posses∣sions, upon a few Acres of barren ground, yet He equalled all the Wealth and Opulence of Kings, in the Ease, Con∣tent, and Freedom of His Mind.

I am not satisfied with the common Acception of the Mala Aurea, for O∣ranges; nor do I find any passage in the Authors of that Age, which gives me the Opinion, that these were otherwise known to the Romans than as Fruits of the Eastern Climats. I should take their Mala Aurea to be rather some kind of Apples, so called from the golden Co∣lour, as some are amongst us; for other∣wise, the Orange-tree is too Noble, in

the beauty, taste and smell of its Fruit, in the Perfume and Vertue of its Flow∣ers, in the perpetual Verdure of its Leaves, and in the excellent uses of all these, both for Pleasure and Health, not to have deserved any particular men∣tion in the Writings of an Age and Na∣tion, so refined and exquisite in all sorts of delicious Luxury.

The charming Description Virgil makes of the Happy Apple, must be intended either for the Citron, or for some sort of Orange growing in Media, which was either so proper to that Country, as not to grow in any other (as a certain sort of Fig was to Damascus) or to have lost its Vertue by changing Soyls, or to have had its effect of curing some sort of Poyson that was usual in that Country, but particular to it: I cannot forbear in∣serting these few Lines, out of the se∣cond of Virgil's Georgicks, not having ever heard any body else take notice of them.

Media fert tristes succos tardum{que} saporem Foelicis Mali, quo non praesentius ullum, Pocula si quando saevae infecere Novercae, Auxilium venit, ac membris agit atra ve∣nena;

Ipsa ingens arbos, faciem{que} similima lauro, Et si non alios late jactaret odores, Laurus erit, folia haud ullis labentia ventis, Flos apprima tenax, animas & olentia Medi Ora fovent illo, ac senibus medicantur an∣helis.

Media brings poysonous herbs, and the flat taste Of the blest Apple, than which ne're was found A help more present, when curst Stepdames mix Their mortal Cups, to drive the Venom out. 'Tis a large Tree, and like a Bays in hue, And did it not such Odours cast about, 'Twould be a Bays, the leafs with no winds fall, The Flowers all excel; with these the Medes Perfume their Breaths, and cure old pursie Men.

The Tree being so like a Bays or Lawrel, the slow or dull taste of the Ap∣ple, the Vertue of it against Poyson, seem to describe the Citron. The Perfume of the Flowers and Vertues of them, to cure ill Sents of Mouth or Breath, or shortness of Wind in pur∣sie old Men, seem to agree most with the Orange: If Flos apprima tenax, mean

only the Excellence of the Flower a∣bove all others, it may be intended for the Orange: If it signifies the Flow∣ers growing most upon the tops of the Trees, it may be rather the Citron; for I have been so curious, as to bring up a Citron from a Kernel, which at twelve years age, began to flower; and I ob∣served all the Flowers to grow upon the top Branches of the Tree, but to be nothing so high or sweet-sented, as the Orange. On the other side, I have al∣ways heard Oranges to pass for a Cordi∣al Juyce, and a great Preservative against the Plague, which is a sort of Venom; so that I know not to which of these we are to ascribe this lovely Picture of the Happy Apple; but I am satisfied by it, that neither of them was at all com∣mon, if at all known in Italy, at that time or long after, though the Fruit be now so frequent there in Fields (atleast in some parts) and make so common and delicious a part of Gardning, even in these Northern Clymats.

In these Countries our Gardens are very different from what they were in Greece and Italy, and from what they are now in those Regions in Spain, or the Southern parts of France. And as

most general Customs in Countries grow from the different nature of Climats, Soyls, or Situations, and from the ne∣cessities or Industry they impose, so do these.

In the warmer Regions, Fruits and Flowers of the best sorts are so com∣mon, and of so easie Production, that they grow in Fields, and are not worth the cost of inclosing, or the care of more than ordinary cultivating. On the other side, the great Pleasures of those Climats are coolness of Air, and what ever looks cool even to the Eyes, and relieves them from the unpleasant sight of dusty Streets or parched Fields. This makes the Gardens of those Countries be chiefly valued by largeness of Extent (which gives greater play and openness of Air) by Shades of Trees, by fre∣quency of living Streams or Fountains, by Perspectives, by Statues, and by Pillars and Obelisks of Stone scattered up and down, which all conspire to make any place look fresh and cool. On the contrary, the more Northern Climats, as they suffer little by Heat, make little Provision against it, and are careless of Shade, and seldom curious in Fountains. Good Statues are in the

reach of few Men, and common ones are generally and justly despised or neg∣lected. But no sorts of good Fruits or Flowers, being Natives of the Climats, or usual among us, (nor indeed the best sorts of Plants, Herbs, Sallads for our Kitchin Gardens themselves) and the best Fruits not ripening without the ad∣vantage of Walls or Palisades, by re∣flection of the faint Heat we receive from the Sun, our Gardens are made of smaller Compass, seldom exceeding four, six, or eight Acres, inclosed with Walls, and laid out in a manner wholly for ad∣vantage of Fruits, Flowers, and the Pro∣duct of Kitchin Gardens in all sorts of Herbs, Sallads, Plants and Legumes, for the common use of Tables.

These are usually the Gardens of England and Holland, as the first sort are those of Italy, and were so of old In the more temperate parts of France, and in Brabant (where I take Gardning to be at its greatest height) they are com∣posed of both sorts, the extent more spacious than ours, part laid out for Flowers, others for Fruits, some Stan∣dards, some against Walls or Pali∣sades, some for Forest Trees and Groves for Shade, some parts wild, some exact,

and Fountains much in request among them.

But after so much ramble into Antient Times, and remote Places, to return home and consider the present way and humour of our Gardning in England, which seem to have grown into such Vogue, and to have been so mightily improved, in three or four and twenty years of His Majesties Reign, that per∣haps few Countries are before us, either in the Elegance of our Gardens, or in the number of our Plants; and I believe none equals us in the Variety of Fruits, which may justly be called good; and from the earliest Cherry and Strawberry to the last Apples and Pears, may fur∣nish every day of the circling year. For the Taste and Perfection of what we esteem the best, I may truly say, that the French who have eaten my Peaches and Grapes at Sheen in no very ill year, have generally concluded, that the last are as good as any they have eaten in France on this side Fountainbleau, and the first as good as any they have eat in Gascony; I mean those which come from the Stone, and are properly called Peaches, not those which are hard, and are term∣ed Pavies; for these cannot grow in too

warm a Climat, nor ever be good in a cold, and are better at Madrid than in Gascony it self: Italians have agreed, my White Figs to be as good as any of that sort in Italy, which is the earlier kind of White Fig there; for in the later kind, and the blue, we cannot come near the warm Climats, no more than in the Frontignac or Muscat Grape.

My Orange-trees are as large as any I saw, when I was young in France, ex∣cept those of Fountainbleau, or what I have seen since in the Low Countries, except some very old ones of the Prince of Oranges; as laden with Flowers as any can well be, as full of Fruit as I suffer or desire them, and as well tasted as are commonly brought over, except the best sorts of Sevil and Portugal. And thus much I could not but say, in de∣fence of our Climat, which is so much and so generally decried abroad, by those who never saw it, or if they have been here, have yet perhaps seen no more of it, than what belongs to Inns, or to Taverns and Ordinaries, who ac∣cuse our Country for their own De∣faults, and speak ill, not only of our Gardens and Houses, but of our Hu∣mours, our Breeding, our Customs and

Manners of Life, by what they have ob∣served of the meaner and baser sort of Mankind and of Company among us, because they wanted themselves perhaps either Fortune or Birth, either Quality or Merit, to introduce them among the good.

I must needs add one thing more in favour of our Climat, which I heard the King say, and I thought new and right, and truly like a King of England that loved and esteemed His own Coun∣try: 'Twas in reply to some of the Com∣pany that were reviling our Climat, and extolling those of Italy and Spain, or at least of France; He said, He thought that was the best Climat, where He could be abroad in the Air with Plea∣sure, or at least without Trouble and Inconvenience, the most days of the Year, and the most hours of the Day; and this He thought He could be in England, more than in any Country He knew of in Europe. And I believe it is true, not only of the hot and the cold, but even among our Neighbours in France and the Low-Countries them∣selves, where the Heats or the Colds, and Changes of Seasons, are less treata∣ble than they are with us.

The truth is, our Climat wants no Heat to produce excellent Fruits, and the Default of it, is only the short Sea∣son of our Heats or Summers, by which many of the later are left behind and imperfect with us. But all such as are ripe before the end of August, are for ought I know, as good with us as any where else. This makes me esteem the true Region of Gardens in England to be the compass of Ten Miles about Lon∣don, where the accidental warmth of Air, from the Fires and Steams of so vast a Town, makes Fruits as well as Corn a great deal forwarder than in Hampshire or Wiltshire, though more Southward by a full Degree.

There are, besides the Temper of our Climat, two things particular to us, that contribute much to the Beauty and Elegance of our Gardens, which are the Gravel of our Walks, and the fineness and almost perpetual Greenness of our Turf. The first is not known any where else, and which leaves all their dry Walks in other Countries very unplea∣sant and uneasie. The other cannot be found in France or in Holland as we have it, the Soyl not admitting that fineness of Blade in Holland, nor the Sun that

Greenness in France during most of the Summer; nor indeed is it to be found but in the finest of our Soyls.

Who-ever begins a Garden, ought in the first place and above all, to consi∣der the Soyl, upon which the taste of not only His Fruits, but His Legumes, and even Herbs and Sallads, will wholly depend, and the default of Soyl is without remedy; for although all Bor∣ders of Fruit may be made, with what Earth you please (if you will be at the charge) yet it must be renewed in two or three years, or it runs into the nature of the Ground where 'tis brought. Old Trees spread their Roots further than any Bodies Care extends, or the Forms of the Garden will allow; and after all, where the Soyl about you is ill, the Air is so too in a Degree, and has Influence upon the taste of Fruit. What Horace says of the productions of Kitchin Gar∣dens under the Name of Caulis, is true of all the best sorts of Fruits, and may determine the choice of Soyl for all Gardens.

Caule suburbano qui siccis crevit in agris Dulcior, irriguis nihil est elutius hortis.

Plants from dry Fields those of the Town excel, Nothing more tastless is than water'd grounds.

Any Man had better throw away His Care and His Mony upon any thing else, than upon a Garden in wet or moist Ground: Peaches and Grapes will have no taste but upon a Sand or Gravel; but the richer these are the better; and nei∣ther Sallads, Pease or Beans have at all the taste upon a Clay or rich Earth, as they have upon either of the others, tho the Size and Colour of Fruits and Plants may perhaps be more upon the worse Soyls.

Next to your choice of Soyl, is to suit your Plants to your Ground, since of this every one is not Master; though perhaps Varro's Judgment upon this case, is the wisest and the best: For to one that asked Him What He should do, if His Father or Ancestors had left Him a Seat in an ill Air, or upon an ill Soyl? He answered, Why sell it and buy ano∣ther in good. But what if I cannot get half the worth? Why then take a quar∣ter, but however sell it, or any thing rather than live upon it.

Of all sorts of Soyl, the best is that upon a Sandry Gravel, or a Rosiny Sand; whoever lies upon either of these, may run boldly into all the best sort of Peaches and Grapes, how shallow soever the Turf be upon them; and whatever other Tree will thrive in these Soyls, the Fruit shall be of much finer taste than any other: A richer Soyl will do well enough for Apricocks, Plums, Pears or Figs; but still the more of the Sand in your Earth the better, and the worse the more of the Clay, which is proper for Oaks, and no other Tree that I know of.

Fruits should be suited to the Climat among us, as well as the Soyl; for there are degrees of one and the other in England, where 'tis to little purpose to plant any of the best Fruits, as Peaches or Grapes, hardly I doubt beyond Northamptonshire at the furthest North∣wards; and I thought it very prudent in a Gentleman of my Friends in Staf∣fordshire, who is a great Lover of His Garden, to pretend no higher, though His Soyl be good enough, than to the perfection of Plums, and in these (by bestowing South Walls upon them) He has very well succeeded, which He could

never have done in attempts upon Peaches and Grapes; and a good Plum is certainly better than an ill Peach.

When I was at Cosevelt with that Bishop of Munster that made so much noise in His time, I observed no other Trees but Cherries in a great Garden He had made. He told me the reason was, Because He found no other Fruit would ripen well in that Climat, or up∣on that Soyl, and therefore instead of being curious in others, He had only been so, in the sorts of that, whereof He had so many, as never to be without them from May to the end of Septem∣ber.

As to the size of a Garden, which will perhaps in time grow extravagant among us, I think from four or five to seven or eight Acres, is as much as any Gentleman need design, and will furnish as much of all that is expected from it as any Nobleman will have occasion to use in His Family.

In every Garden four things are ne∣cessary to be provided for, Flowers, Fruit, Shade, and Water; and who∣ever lays out a Garden without all these, must not pretend it in any perfection: It ought to lie to the best parts of the

House, or to those of the Master's com∣monest use, so as to be but like one of the Rooms out of which you step into another. The part of your Garden next your House, (besides the Walks that go round it) should be a Parterre for Flowers, or Grass-plots bordered with Flowers; or if, according to the newest mode, it be cast all into Grass∣plots and Gravel-walks, the driness of these should be relieved with Fountains, and the plainness of those with Statues; otherwise, if large, they have an ill effect upon the Eye. However the part next the House should be open, and no other Fruit but upon the Walls. If this take up one half of the Garden, the other should be Fruit-Trees, unless some Grove for Shade lye in the middle. If it take up a third part only, then the next third may be Dwarf-Trees, and the last Standard Fruit; or else the Second Part Fruit-trees, and the third all sorts of Winter-greens, which provide for all Seasons of the year.

I will not enter upon any account of Flowers, having only pleased my self with seeing or smelling them, and not troubled my self with the Care, which is more the Ladies part than the Mens,

but the Success is wholly in the Gard∣ner. For Fruits, the best we have in England, or I believe can ever hope for, are, of Peaches, the White and Red Maudlin, the Minion, the Chevreuse, the Ramboullet, the Musk, the Admirable, which is late, all the rest are either vari∣fied by Names, or not to be named with these, nor worth troubling a Gar∣den, in my Opinion. Of the Pavies or Hard Peaches, I know none good here but the Newington, nor will that easily hang till 'tis full ripe. The forward Peaches are to be esteemed only because they are early, but yet should find room in a good Garden, at least the White and Brown Nutmeg, the Persian, and the Violet Musk. The only good Ne∣ctorins are the Murry and the French; of these there are two sorts, one very round, the other something long, but the round is the best: Of the Murry there are several sorts, but being all hard, they are seldom well ripened with us.

Of Grapes, the best are the Chasselas, which is the better sort of our White Muscadin, (as the usual Name was); a∣bout Sheen, 'tis called the Pearl Grape, and ripens well enough in common

years, but not so well as the common Black or Currand, which is something a worse Grape. The Parsly is good and proper enough to our Climat, but all white Frontiniacks are difficult, and seldom ripe unless in extraordinary Sum∣mers.

I have had the Honour of bringing over four sorts into Engalnd; the Ar∣boyse from the Franche Conte, which is a small white Grape, or rather runs into some small and some great upon the same Bunch; it agrees well with our Climat, but is very choice in Soyl, and must have a sharp Gravel; it is the most delicious of all Grapes that are not Muscat. The Bur∣gundy, which is a grizelin or pale red, and of all others is surest to ripen in our Climat, so that I have never known them to fail one Summer these fifteen years, when all others have, and have had it very good upon an East Wall. A Black Muscat, which is called the Dow∣ager, and ripens as well as the common White Grape. And the fourth is the Grizelin Frontignac, being of that Co∣lour, and the highest of that Taste, and the noblest of all Grapes I ever eat in England, but requires the hottest Wall and the sharpest Gravel, and must be

favoured by the Summer too, to be very good. All these are, I suppose, by this time, pretty common among some Gardners in my Neighbourhood, as well as several Persons of Quality; for I have ever thought all things of this kind, the commoner they are made, the better.

Of Figs there are among us the White, the Blue, and the Tawny: The last is very small, bears ill, and I think but a Bawble. Of the Blew there are two or three sorts, but little different, one something longer than the other; but that kind which swells most is ever the best. Of the White I know but two sorts, and both excellent, one ripe in the beginning of July, the other in the end of September, and is yellower than the first; but this is hard to be found among us, and difficult to raise, though an excellent Fruit.

Of Apricocks the best are the com∣mon old sort, and the largest Masculin, of which this last is much improved by budding upon a Peach Stock. I esteem none of this Fruit but the Brussels Apri∣cock, which grows a Standard, and is one of the best Fruits we have, and which I first brought over among us.

The number of good Pears, especi∣ally Summer, is very great, but the best are the Blanquet, Robin, Rousselet, Ro∣sati, Sans Pepin, Jargonell. Of the Autumn, the Buree, the Vertelongue, and the Bergamot. Of the Winter, the Vergoluz, Chasseray, St. Michael, St. Germain, and Ambret: I esteem the Bon-Cretien with us good for nothing but to Bake.

Of Plums the best are St. Julian, St. Catharine, white and blew Pedrigon, Queen-mother, Sheen-Plum, and Che∣ston.

Beyond the sorts I have named, none I think need trouble himself, but mul∣tiply these, rather than make room for more kinds; and I am content to leave this Register, having been so often de∣sired it by my Friends upon their designs of Gardning.

I need say nothing of Apples, being so well known among us; but the best of our Climat, and I believe of all o∣thers, is the Golden Pippin, and for all sorts of uses: The next is the Kentish Pippin, but these I think are as far from their perfection with us as Grapes, and yield to those of Normandy, as these to those in Anjou, and even these to those in

Gascony. In other Fruits the defect of Sun is in a great measure supplied by the advantage of Walls.

The next care to that of suiting Trees with the Soyl, is that of suiting Fruits to the Position of Walls. Grapes, Peaches, and Winter Pears to be good, must be planted upon full South or South-east; Figs are best upon South-east, but will do well upon East, and South-West: The West are proper for Cherries, Plums or Apricocks, but all of them are im∣proved by a South Wall both as to early and tast: North, North-West, or North-East, deserve nothing but Greens; these should be divided by Woodbines or Jes∣semins between every Green, and the other Walls, by a Vine between every Fruit-Tree; the best sorts upon the South-Walls, the common White and Black upon East and West, because the other Trees being many of them (espe∣cially Peaches) very transitory, some apt to die with hard Winters, others to be cut down and make room for new Fruits: Without this Method the Walls are left for several Years unfurnished; whereas the Vines on each side cover the void space in one Summer, and when the other Trees are grown, make

only a Pillar between them of two or three Foot broad.

Whoever would have the best Fruits in the most perfection our Climat will allow, should not only take care of giv∣ing them as much Sun, but also as much Air as he can; no Tree, unless Dwarf, should be suffered to grow within Forty Foot of your best Walls, but the far∣ther they lie open, is still the better. Of all others this Care is most necessary in Vines, which are observed abroad to make the best Wines, where they lie upon sides of Hills, and so most expo∣sed to the Air and the Winds. The way of pruning them too, is best learnt from the Vineyards, where you see nothing in Winter, but what looks like a dead stump; and upon our Walls, they should be left but like a ragged Staff, not above two or three Eyes at most up∣on the Bearing Branches; and the low∣er the Vine, and fewer the Branches, the Grapes will be still the better.

The best Figure of a Garden is either a Square or an Oblong, and either upon a Flat or a Descent; they have all their Beauties, but the best I esteem an Ob∣long upon a Descent. The Beauty, the Air, the View, make amends for the

expence, which is very great in finishing and supporting the Terras-walks, in le∣velling the Parterres, and in the stone Stairs that are necessary from one to the other.

The perfectest Figure of a Garden I ever saw, either at home or abroad, was that of Moor-Park in Hartfordshire when I knew it about thirty years ago. It was made by the Countess of Bed∣ford, esteemed among the greatest Wits of Her time, and celebrated by Dr. Donne; and with very great Care, Ex∣cellent Contrivance, and much Cost; but greater Sums may be thrown away without effect or Honour, if there want Sense in proportion to Mony, or if Na∣ture be not followed, which I take to be the great Rule in this, and perhaps in every thing else, as far as the Conduct not only of our Lives, but our Govern∣ments. And whether the greatest of mortal Men should attempt the forcing of Nature, may best be judged, by ob∣serving how seldom God Almighty does it Himself, by so few true and undispu∣ted Miracles, as we see or hear of in the World. For my own part, I know not three wiser Precepts for the Conduct either of Princes or private Men, than

—Servare Modum, Finem{que} tueri, Naturam{que} sequi.

Because I take the Garden I have na∣med, to have been in all kinds the most beautiful and perfect, at least in the Figure and Disposition, that I have ever seen, I will describe it for a Model to those that meet with such a Situation, and are above the regards of common Expence: It lies on the side of a Hill, (upon which the House stands) but not very steep. The length of the House, where the best Rooms, and of most use or pleasure are, lies upon the breadth of the Garden, the great Parlour opens into the middle of a Terras Gravel-walk that lies even with it, and which may be as I remember about three hun∣dred Paces long, and broad in Propor∣tion, the Border set with Standard Lawrels, and at large distances, which have the Beauty of Orange-Trees out of Flower and Fruit; from this Walk are three Descents by many stone Steps in the middle and at each end, into a very large Parterre. This is divided into Quarters by Gravel Walks, and adorn∣ed with two Fountains and eight Sta∣tues

in the several Quarters; at the end of the Terras Walk are two Summer-Houses, and the sides of the Parterre are ranged with two large Cloysters open to the Garden, upon Arches of Stone, and ending with two other Sum∣mer-Houses even with the Cloysters, which are paved with Stone, and de∣signed for Walks of Shade, there being none other in the whole Parterre. Over these two Cloysters are two Terrasses covered with Lead, and fenced with Ba∣lusters, and the Passage into these airy Walks is out of the two Summer-Hou∣ses at the end of the first Terras-walk. The Cloyster facing the South is cover∣ed with Vines, and would have been proper for an Orange-house, and the other for Myrtles, or other more com∣mon Greens, and had, I doubt not, been cast for that purpose, if this piece of Gardning had been then in as much Vogue as it is now.

From the middle of this Parterre is a descent by many steps flying on each side of a Grotto that lies between them (covered with Lead and Flat) into the lower Garden, which is all Fruit-trees ranged about the several Quarters of a Wilderness which is very shady; the

Walks here are all green, the Grotto imbelish'd with Figures of Shell Rock∣work, Fountains and Water-works. If the Hill had not ended with the lower Garden, and the Wall were not bound∣ed by a common way that goes through the Park, they might have added a third Quarter of all Greens; but this want is supplied by a Garden on the other side the House, which is all of that sort, very wild, shady, and a dorn∣ed with rough Rock-work and Foun∣tains.

This was Moor-Park, when I was ac∣quainted with it, and the sweetest place, I think, that I have seen in my Life, ei∣ther before or since, at home or abroad; what it is now I can give little account, having passed through several hands that have made great Changes in Gar∣dens as well as House; but the remem∣brance of what it was, is too pleasant ever to forget, and therefore I do not believe to have mistaken the Figure of it, which may serve for a Pattern to the best Gardens of our manner, and that are most proper for our Country and Climat.

What I have said of the best Forms of Gardens, is meant only of such as are in some sort regular; for there may be other Forms wholly irregular, that may, for ought I know, have more Beauty than any of the others; but they must owe it to some extraordinary dispositions of Nature in the Seat, or some great race of Fancy or Judgment in the Contrivance, which may reduce many disagreeing parts into some Fi∣gure, which shall yet upon the whole, be very agreeable. Something of this I have seen in some places, but heard more of it from others, who have liv∣ed much among the Chineses; a People, whose way of thinking, seems to lie as wide of ours in Europe, as their Coun∣try does. Among us, the Beauty of Building and Planting is placed chiefly, in some certain Proportions, Symme∣tries, or Uniformities; our Walks and our Trees ranged so, as to answer one another, and at exact Distances. The Chineses scorn this way of Planting, and say a Boy that can tell an hundred, may plant Walks of Trees in strait Lines, and over against one another, and to what Length and Extent He pleases. But their greatest reach of Imagination, is em∣ployed

in contriving Figures, where the Beauty shall be great, and strike the Eye, but without any order or disposition of parts, that shall be commonly or easily observ'd. And though we have hardly any Notion of this sort of Beauty, yet they have a particular Word to express it; and where they find it hit their Eye at first sight, they say the Sharawadgi is fine or is admirable, or any such expres∣sion of Esteem. And whoever observes the Work upon the best Indian Gowns, or the painting upon their best Skreens or Purcellans, will find their Beauty is all of this kind (that is) without order. But I should hardly advise any of these Attempts in the Figure of Gardens a∣mong us; they are Adventures of too hard atchievement for any common Hands; and though there may be more Honour if they succeed well, yet there is more Dishonour if they fail, and 'tis twenty to one they will; whereas in regular Figures, 'tis hard to make any great and remarkable Faults.

The Picture I have met with, in some relations of a Garden made by a Dutch Governor of their Colony, upon the Cape de Buen Esperance is admirable, and described to be of an Oblong-Figure,

very large Extent, and divided into four Quarters by long and cross Walks, ranged with all sorts of Orange-trees, Lemmons, Limes, and Citrons; each of these four Quarters is planted with the Trees, Fruits, Flowers and Plants that are native and proper to each of the four parts of the World; so as in this one Inclosure are to be found the seve∣ral Gardens of Europe, Asia, Africk, and America. There could not be in my mind, a greater Thought of a Gardner, nor a nobler Idea of a Garden, nor bet∣ter suited or chosen for the Climat, which is about Thirty Degrees, and may pass for the Hesperides of our Age, whatever or where-ever the other was. Yet this is agreed by all to have been in the Islands or Continent upon the South-West of Africa, but what their Forms or their Fruits were, none that I know, pretend to tell; nor whether their Golden Apples were for taste, or only for sight, as those of Montezuma were in Mexico, who had large Trees with Stocks, Branches, Leafs and Fruits, all admirably composed and wrought of Gold; but this was only stupendious in cost and art, and answers not at all in

my Opinion, the delicious Varieties of Nature in other Gardens.

What I have said of Gardning, is perhaps enough for any Gentleman to know, so as to make no great Faults, nor be much imposed upon, in the De∣signs of that kind, which I think ought to be applauded and encouraged in all Countries. That and building being a sort of Creation, that raise beautiful Fabricks and Figures out of nothing, that make the Convenience and Plea∣sure of all private Habitations, that em∣ploy many Hands, and circulate much Mony among the poorer sort and Arti∣zans, that are a Publick Service to ones Country, by the Example as well as effect, which adorn the Scene, improve the Earth, and even the Air it self in some Degree. The rest that belongs to this Subject, must be a Gardners part, upon whose Skill, Diligence and Care, the Beauty of the Grounds, and Excel∣lence of the Fruits will much depend. Though if the Soyl and Sorts be well chosen, well suited, and disposed to the Walls, the Ignorance or Carelesness of the Servants can hardly leave the Master disappointed.

I will not enter further upon His Trade, than to advise Him in all Plan∣tations either for His Master or Himself, to draw his Trees out of some Nursery that is upon a leaner and lighter Soyl than his own where he removes them; without this care they will not thrive in several years, perhaps never, and must make way for new, which should be avoided all that can be; for Life is too short and uncertain, to be renewing often your Plantations. The Walls of your Garden without their Furniture, look as ill as those of your House; so that you cannot dig up your Garden too often, nor too seldom cut it down.

I may perhaps be allowed to know something of this Trade, since I have so long allowed my self to be good for nothing else, which few Men will do, or enjoy their Gardens, without often looking abroad to see how other mat∣ters play, what Motions in the State, and what Invitations they may hope for into other Scenes.

For my own part, as the Country Life, and this part of it more particu∣larly, were the Inclination of my Youth it self, so they are the Pleasure of my Age; and I can truly say, that among

many great Employments that have fallen to my share, I have never asked or sought for any one of them, but have often endeavoured to escape from them, into the ease and freedom of a private Scene, where a Man may go his own way and his own Pace, in the common Paths or Circles of Life.

Inter cunct a leges & percunct abere doctos Qua ratione queas traducere leniter aevum, Quid curas minuat, quid te tibi reddat a∣micum, Quid purè tranquillet, honos an dulce lu∣cellum, An secretum iter, & fallentis semita vitae.

But above all, the Learned read and ask By what means you may gently pass your Age, What lessens Care, what makes thee thine own Friend, What truly calms the Mind, Honour or Wealth, Or else a private path of stealing Life.

These are Questions that a Man ought at least to ask himself, whether he asks others or no, and to choose his course of Life rather by his own Humour and

Temper, than by common Accidents, or Advice of Friends, at least if the Spa∣nish Proverb be true, That a Fool knows more in his own House than a Wise Man in anothers.

The measure of choosing well, is, Whether a Man likes what he has cho∣sen, which I thank God has befallen me; and though among the Follies of my Life, Building and Planting have not been the least, and have cost me more than I have the confidence to own; yet they have been fully recompensed by the sweetness and satisfaction of this Retreat, where since my Resolution ta∣ken of never entring again into any Publick Employments, I have passed Five Years without ever going once to Town, though I am almost in sight of it, and have a House there always ready to receive me. Nor has this been any sort of Affectation, as some have thought it, but a meer want of Desire or Humour to make so small a Remove; for when I am in this Corner I can truly say with Horace,

Me quoties reficit gelidus Digentia rivus, Quid sentire putas, quid credis amice pre∣care?

Sit mihi quod nunc est etiam minus, ut mi∣hi vivam, Quod superest aevi, si quid superesse volent Dii. Sit bona librorum, & provisae frugis in annum Copia, ne dubiae fluitem spe pendulus horae, Hoc satis est orasse Jovem qui donat & aufert.

Me when the cold Digentian Stream re∣vives, What does my Friend believe I think or ask? Let me yet less possess so I may live What e're of Life remains, unto my self. May I have Books enough, and one years store Not to depend upon each doubtful hour; This is enough of mighty Jove to pray, Who as He pleases gives and takes away.

That which makes the Cares of Gard∣ning more necessary, or at least more excusable, is that all Men eat Fruit that can get it, so as the choice is only whe∣ther one will eat good or ill, and be∣tween these the difference is not great∣er, in point of tast and delicacy, than it is of Health: For the first I will only say, That whoever has used to eat good,

will do very great penance when he comes to ill: And for the other, I think nothing is more evident, than as ill or unripe Fruit is extreamly unwholsom, and causes so many untimely deaths, or so much sickness about Autumn, in all great Cities where 'tis greedily sold as well as eaten, so no part of Dyet, in any season, is so healthful, so natural, and so agreeable to the Stomach, as good and well ripened Fruits; for this I make the measure of their being good; and let the kinds be what they will, if they will not ripen perfectly in our Clymat, they are better never planted or never eaten. I can say it for my self at least, and all my Friends, that the season of Summer Fruits is ever the season of health with us, which I reckon from the beginning of June to the end of September, and for all Sicknesses of the Stomach (from which most others are judged to proceed) I do not think any that are like me, the most subject to them, shall complain, when ever they eat thirty or forty Cherries before Meals, or the like proportion of white Figs, soft Peaches, or grapes perfectly ripe. But these after Michaelmas I do not think wholsom with us, unless attended

by some fit of hot and dry Weather more than is usual after that Season; When the Frosts or the Rain have taken them, they grow dangerous, and no∣thing but the Autumn and Winter Pears, are to be reckoned in season, besides Apples, which, with Cherries are of all others, the most innocent Food, and perhaps the best Physick. Now who∣ever will be sure to eat good Fruit, must do it out of a Garden of His own; for besides the choice so necessary in the sorts, the soyl, and so many other circumstances that go to compose a good Garden, or produce good Fruits, there is something very nice in gather∣ing them, and choosing the best even from the same Tree. The best sorts of all among us, which I esteem the white Figs and the soft Peaches, will not carry without suffering. The best Fruit that is bought, has no more of the Masters care, than how to raise the greatest gains; His business is to have as much Fruit as He can, upon as few Trees, whereas the way to have it excellent, is to have but little up∣on many Trees. So that for all things out of a Garden, either of Sallads or Fruits, a Poor Man will eat better,

that has one of His own, than a Rich Man that has none. And this is all I think of necessary and useful to be known upon this Subject.