My Lord, That which the Royal Society needs to accompliſh an entire Freedom, and (by rendring their Circumſtances more eaſie) capable to ſubſiſt with Honor, and to reach indeed the Glorious Ends of its Inſtitution, is an Eſtabliſhment in a more Settl'd, Appropriate, and Commodious Place; having hitherto (like the Tabernacle in the Wilderneſs) been only Ambulatory for almoſt Forty Years: But Solomon built the Firſt Temple; and what forbids us to hope, [pg] that as Great a Prince may build Solomon's Houſe, as that Great Chancellor (one of Your Lordſhip's Learned Predeceſſors) had deſign'd the Plan; there being nothing in that Auguſt and Noble Model impoſſible, or beyond the Power of Nature and Learned Induſtry.
Thus, whilſt King Solomon's Temple was Conſecrated to the God of Nature, and his true Worſhip; This may be Dedicated, and ſet apart for the Works of Nature; deliver'd from those Illuſions and Impoſtors, that are ſtill endeavouring to cloud and depreſs the True, and Subſtantial Philoſophy: A ſhallow and Superficial Inſight, wherein (as that Incomparable Perſon rightly obſerves) having [pg] made ſo many Atheiſts: whilſt a profound and thorow Penetration into her Receſſes (which is the Buſineſs of the Royal Society) would lead Men to the Knowledge, and Admiration of the Glorious Author.
And now, My Lord, I expect ſome will wonder what my Meaning is, to uſher in a Trifle, with ſo much Magnificence, and end at last in a fine Receipt for the Dreſſing of a Sallet with an Handful of Pot-Herbs! But yet, My Lord, this Subject, as low and deſpicable as it appears, challenges a Part of Natural History, and the Greateſt Princes have thought it no Diſgrace, not only to make it their Diverſion, but their Care, and to promote and encourage it in the midſt [pg] of their weightieſt Affairs: He who wrote of the Cedar of Libanus, wrote alſo of the Hyſop which grows upon the Wall.
To verifie this, how much might I ſay of Gardens and Rural Employments, preferrable to the Pomp and Grandeur of other Secular Buſineſs, and that in the Eſtimate of as Great Men as any Age has produc'd! And it is of ſuch Great Souls we have it recorded; That after they had perform'd the Nobleſt Exploits for the Publick, they ſometimes chang'd their Scepters for the Spade, and their Purple for the Gardiner's Apron. And of theſe, ſome, My Lord, were Emperors, Kings, Conſuls, Dictators, and Wiſe Stateſmen; who amidſt the most [pg] important Affairs, both in Peace and War, have quitted all their Pomp and Dignity in Exchange of this Learned Pleaſure: Nor that of the moſt refin'd Part of Agriculture (the Philoſophy of the Garden and Parterre only) but of Herbs, and wholeſom Sallets, and other plain and uſeful Parts of Geoponicks, and Wrote Books of Tillage and Husbandry; and took the Plough-Tackle for their Banner, and their Names from the Grain and Pulſe they ſow'd, as the Marks and Characters of the higheſt Honor.
But I proceed no farther on a Topic ſo well known to Your Lordſhip: Nor urge I Examples of ſuch Illuſtrious Perſons laying aſide their Grandeur, and even of deſerting their Stations; [pg] (which would infinitely prejudice the Publick, when worthy Men are in Place, and at the Helm) But to ſhew how conſiſent the Diverſions of the Garden and Villa were, with the higheſt and buſieſt Employment of the Commonwealth, and never thought a Reproch, or the leaſt Diminution to the Gravity and Veneration due to their Perſons, and the Noble Rank they held.
Will Your Lordſhip give me Leave to repeat what is ſaid of the Younger Pliny, (Nephew to the Naturaliſt) and whom I think we may parallel with the Greateſt of his time (and perhaps of any ſince) under the Worthieſt Emperor the Roman world ever had? A Perſon of vaſt Abilities, Rich, [pg] and High in his Maſter's Favour; that ſo Husbanded his time, as in the Midſt of the weightieſt Affairs, to have Anſwer'd, and by his [2]Example, 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,