Then for the Board.
——Rais'd of a graſſy Turf
The Table was, and Moſſy Seats had round;
And on the ample Meaths from Side to Side,
All Autumn pil'd: Ah Innocence,
Deſerving Paradiſe!
Thus, the Hortulan Proviſion of the [124]Golden Age fitted all Places, Times and Perſons; and when Man is reſtor'd to that State again, it will be as it was in the Beginning.
But now after all (and for Cloſe of all) Let none yet imagine, that whilſt we juſtifie our preſent Subject through all the Topics of Panegyric, we would in Favour of the Sallet, dreſt with all its Pomp and Advantage turn Mankind to Graſs again; which were ungratefully to neglect the Bounty of Heaven, as well as his Health and Comfort: But by theſe Noble Inſtances and Examples, to reproach the Luxury of the preſent Age; and by ſhewing the infinite Bleſſing and Effects of Temperance, and the Vertues accompanying it; with how little Nature, and a [125]Civil Appetite may be happy, contented with moderate things, and within a little Compaſs, reſerving the reſt, to the nobler Parts of Life. And thus of old,
Hoc erat in votis, modus agri non ita magnus, &c.
He that was poſſeſs'd of a little Spot of Ground, and well-cultivated Garden, with other moderate Circumſtances, had [126]Hæredium. All that a modeſt Man could well deſire. Then,