Sylva Part 5

Wouldst thou be a _Philosopher_; Prepare thy self for _Scoffs_: What, you are setting up for a _Virtuoso_ now? Why so proud I pray? Well, be not thou proud for all this; But so persist in what seems _best_ and _laudable_; as if _G.o.d_ himself had plac'd thee there; and _remember_, that so long as thou _remain'st_ in that _State_ and _Resolution_, thy _Reproachers_ will in time _admire_ thee: But if once through _Inconstancy_ thou _give out_ & _flinch_, d?p???? p??s???? ?ata????ta, Thou _deservest_ to be doubly _laugh'd_ at.

Lord _Verulam_, Instaur. Scient.

Some Men (like _Lucian_ in _Religion_) seek by their _Wit_, to _traduce_ and _expose useful things_; because to arrive at them, they converse with _mean Experiments_: But those who _despise_ to be _employ'd_ in _ordinary_ and _common matters_, never arrive to _solid Perfection_ in _Experimental Knowledge_.

The changes and _Alterations_ in the several _Chapters_ and Parts throughout this _Discourse_, with the _Additions_ and _Improvements_, have often oblig'd me to alter the _Method_, and indeed to make it almost a _New Work_.

_J. Evelyn._

FOOTNOTES:

{lxxviii:1} See _Petrarch de Remed. utriusque fortunae L. 1. Dial. 57_.

{lxxix:1} _Vide & Curtium_, l. 7. &c.

{lx.x.x:1} _De R. R._

{lx.x.x:2} _In agris erant tunc Senatores._ Cic. _de_ Senect.

{lx.x.x:3} _Silvae sunt Consule dignae. See this of the _Poet_ Interpreted, _Scaliger l. 2. c. 1._ Poet. _P. Nennius, Sueton. Jul._ in Lipsium. _Tacit, iv. Annal. 27._ concerning the _Quaestor's_ Office._

{lx.x.xii:1} _Palissy, le Moyen de devenir Riche._

{lx.x.xiii:1} _Praefat ad P. Silvinum_; which I earnestly recommend to the serious perusal of our _Gentry_. _Et mihi ad sapientis vitam proxime videtur accedere._ Cic. _de Senectute_.

{lx.x.xv:1} _Ne silvae quidem, horridiorque naturae facies medicinis carent, sacra illa parente rerum omnium, nusquam non remedia disponente homini ut Medicina, fieret etiam solitudo ipsa, &c. Hinc nata Medicina, &c. Haec sola naturae placuerat esse remedia parata vulgo, inventu facilia, ac sine impendio, ex quibus vivimus_, &c. Plin. l. 24. c. 1.

{lx.x.xvii:1} Consult _Hist. Roy. Soc._ and their _Registers_.

The Laws of _Motion_, and the Geometrical streightning of _Curve Lines_ were first found out by Sir _Christopher Wren_ and Mr. _Thomas Neile_.

The _equated isocrone Motion_ of the weight of a _Circular Pendulum_ in a _Paraboloid_, for the regulating of _Clocks_; and the improving _Pocket-Watches_ by _Springs_ applied to the _Ballance_, were first invented and demonstrated to this Society by Dr. _Hooke_; together with all those _New_ and useful _Instruments_, _Contrivances_ and _Experiments_, _Mathematical_ and _Physical_, publish'd in his _Posthumous Works_ by the most accomplish'd Mr. _Waller_, _Secretary_ to the _R. Society_. And since those the incomparably learned Sir _Isaac Newton_, now _President_ of the _Royal Society_; Mr. _Haly_, the Worthy _Professor_ of _Geometry_ in the _University_ of _Oxford_; Dr. _Grew_, and several more, whose Works and useful Inventions sufficiently celebrate their Merits: I did mention the _Barometer_, to which might be added the prodigious effects of the _Speculum Ustorium_, surpa.s.sing what the _French_ pretend to, as confidently, or rather _audaciously_, they do, and to other admirable Inventions, injuriously _arrogated_ by _Strangers_, tho' due of right to _Englishmen_, and Members of this Society; but 'tis not the business of this Preface to enumerate all, tho' 'twas necessary to touch on some Instances.

{xciii:1} Neh. 2. 19.

{xciii:2} Neh. 4. 17.

{xcvi:1} _Since this _Epistle_ was first written and publish'd the _University of Oxford_ have inst.i.tuted, and erected a _Society_ for the promoting of _Natural_ and _Experimental Knowledge_, in consort with the _R. Society_, with which they keep a mutual Correspondence: This mention, for that some _Malevolents_ had so far endeavour'd to possess divers Members of the _University_; as if the _Society_ design'd nothing less than the undermining of that, and other ill.u.s.trious _Academies_, and which indeed so far prevail'd, as to breed a real Jealousy for some considerable time: But as this was never in the Thoughts of the _Society_ (which had ever the _Universities_ in greatest Veneration) so the Innocency and Usefulness of its Inst.i.tution has at length disabus'd them, vindicated their Proceedings, dissipated all Surmises, and, in fine, produced an ingenious, friendly and candid Union and Correspondence between them._

ADVERTIs.e.m.e.nT.

That I have frequently inserted divers _Historical_ and other Pa.s.sages, _apposite_, agreeable to the _Subject_ (abstaining from a number more which I might have added) let it be _remember'd_ that I did not altogether compile this _Work_ for the sake of our ordinary _Rustics_, (meer _Foresters_ and _Wood-men_) but for the more _Ingenious_; the Benefit, and Diversion of _Gentlemen_, and Persons of _Quality_, who often refresh themselves in these agreeable _Toils_ of _Planting_, and the _Garden_: For the rest, I may perhaps in some places have made use of (here and there) a _Word_ not as yet so familiar to every _Reader_; but _none_, that I know of, which are not sufficiently _explained_ by the _Context_ and Discourse. That this may yet be no _prejudice_ to the _meaner Capacities_, let them _read_ for

_Ablaqueation_, laying bare the _Roots_.

_Amputation_, cutting quite off.

_Arborator_, Pruner, or one that has care of the _Trees_.

_Avenue_, the princ.i.p.al _Walk_ to the _Front_ of the _House_ or _Seat_.

_Bulbs_, round or _Onion-shap'd_ Roots.

_Calcine_, burn to Ashes.

_Compost_, Dung.

_Conservatory_, Green-house to keep _choice Plants_, &c. in.

_Contr'espaliere_, a Palisade or _Pole-hedge_.

_Coronary_ Garden, _Flower_-Garden.

_Culinary_, belonging to the _Kitchin_, _Roots_, _Salading_, &c.

_Culture_, Dressing.

_Decorticate_, to strip off the _Bark_.

_Emuscation_, cleansing it of the _Moss_.

_Esculent_, Roots, Salads, &c. fit to eat.

_Espalieres_, Wall-fruit Trees.

_Exotics_, outlandish, rare and choice.

_Fermentation_, working.

_Fibrous_, stringy.

_Frondation_, stripping of _Leaves_, and _Boughs_.

_Heterogeneous_, repugnant.

_h.o.m.ogeneous_, agreeable.

_Hyemation_, protection in _Winter_.

_Ichnography_, Ground-plot.

_Inoculation_, budding.

_Insition_, Graffing.

_Insolation_, exposing to the _Sun_.

_Interlucation_, thinning and disbranching of a Wood.

_Irrigation_, Watering.

_Laboratory_, Still-house.

_Letation_, Dung.

_Lixivium_, Lee.

_Mural_, belonging to the Wall.

_Olitory_, _Acetary_, _Salads_, &c. belonging to the _Kitchin-Garden_.

_Palisade_, Pole-hedge.

_Parterre_, Flower-Garden, or _Knots_.

_Perennial_, continuing all the year.

_Quincunx_, Trees set like the _Cinque-point_ of a _Dy_.

_Rectifie_, re-distil.

_Seminary_, Nursery.

_Stercoration_, Dunging.

S. S. S. _Stratum super Stratum_, one bed, or layer upon another.

_Tonsile_, that which may be shorn, or clip'd.

_Topiary_-works, the _clipping_, _cutting_ and _forming_ of _Hedges_, &c.

into _Figures_ and Works.

_Vernal_, belonging to the _Spring_, &c. The rest are _obvious_.