8. The Practical Fruit Gardener; 8vo. Cuts, 1717. Other editions, 8vo. 1724, 1731, Revised and recommended by the Rev. Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Bradley, with their Two Letters of Recommendation.
In this later edition of 1731, are a few additions. In one of its concluding chapters, he mentions "my worthy and ingenious friend, Sir James Thornhill." This pleasing volume, after stating the excellency of fruits, observes, "if fruit trees had no other advantage attending them than to look upon them, how pleasurable would that be? Since there is no flowering shrub excels, if equals that of a peach, or apple tree in bloom. The tender enamelled blossoms, verdant foliage, with such a glorious embroidery of festoons and fruitages, wafting their odours on every blast of wind, and at last bowing down their laden branches, ready to yield their pregnant offspring into the hands of their laborious planter and owner."[46]
John Taverner published, in 1660, a little Treatise, called The Making of Fish Ponds, Breeding Fish, and Planting Fruits. Printed several times, says Wood, in his Athenæ.
Richard Bradley. The Encyclopædia of Gardening pronounces him "a popular writer of very considerable talent, and indefatigable industry;" and speaks highly of the interesting knowledge diffused through his very numerous works, and gives a distinct list of them; so does Mr. Nicholls, in his Life of Bowyer; and Mr. Weston, in his Tracts, and Dr. Watts, in his Bib. Britt. In Mr. Bradley's "New Improvements of Planting and Gardening," he has added the whole of that scarce Tract of Dr. Beale's, the Herefordshire Orchards. One could wish to obtain his portrait, were it only from his pen so well painting the alluring charms of flowers:—"Primroses and Cowslips, may be planted near the edges of borders, and near houses, for the sake of their pretty smell. I recommend the planting some of the common sorts that grow wild in the woods, in some of the most rural places about the house; for I think nothing can be more delightful, than to see great numbers of these flowers, accompanied with Violets, growing under the hedges, avenues of trees, and wilderness works. Violets, besides their beauty, perfume the air with a most delightful odour."[47] Mr. Bradley, it appears, from the Fruit Garden Kalendar, of the Rev. Mr. Lawrence, resided at Camden House, Kensington. They each of them in their letters, in 1717, subscribe themselves, "Your most affectionate friend." Mr. Lawrence frequently styles him "the most ingenious Mr. Bradley." Dr. Pulteney says he "was the author of more than twenty separate publications, chiefly on Gardening and Agriculture; published between the years 1716 and 1730. His 'New Improvement of Planting and Gardening, both Philosophical and Practical,' 8vo. 1717, went through repeated impressions; as did his 'Gentleman's and Gardener's Kalendar,' (which was the fourth part of the preceding book) both at home, and in translations abroad. His 'Philosophical Account of the Works of Nature,' 4to. 1721, was a popular, instructive, and entertaining work, and continued in repute several years. The same may be said of his 'General Treatise of Husbandry and Gardening,' 8vo. 2 vols. 1726; and of his 'Practical Discourses concerning the Four Elements, as they relate to the Growth of Plants,' 8vo. 1727. His 'Dictionarium Botanicum,' 8vo. 1728, was, I believe, the first attempt of the kind in England." On the whole (says Dr. Pulteney) Bradley's writings, coinciding with the growing taste for gardening, the introduction of exotics, and improvements in husbandry, contributed to excite a more philosophical view of these arts, and diffuse a general and popular knowledge of them throughout the kingdom."[48] Mr. Bradley has given at the end of his curious "Philosophical Account of the Works of Nature," which is embellished with neat engravings, a chapter "Of the most curious Gardens in Europe, especially in Britain." In this chapter he justly observes, that "a gentle exercise in a fresh air, where the mind is engaged with variety of natural objects, contributes to content; and it is no new observation, that the trouble of the mind wears and destroys the constitution even of the most healthful body. All kinds of gardens contribute to health." This volume also preserves the account of Lord Ducie's noted old chesnut tree at Tortworth, supposed to be more than a thousand years old; and of an elm belonging to his lordship, of a truly gigantic growth.[49] Switzer thus speaks of Bradley:—"Mr. Bradley has not only shewn himself a skilful botanist, but a man of experience in other respects, and is every where a modest writer." Mr. Bradley died in 1732. Some writers have dwelt much upon his dissipation; let us remember, however, that
Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues
We write in water.
Mr. Weston, in a communication inserted in the Gentleman's Magazine for November, 1806, says, "Although this country had a great loss by the death of Evelyn, yet he was succeeded, in twenty years after, by another of equal abilities, and indefatigable in endeavouring to improve the art of gardening, as Bradley's numerous works will testify."
Timothy Nourse, whose "Campania Fœlix," 8vo. 1700, has prefixed to it, a very neat engraving by Vander Gucht, of rural life. He has chapters on Fruit Trees; on the several kinds of Apple Trees, and on Cyder and Perry. In page 262 he, with great humanity, strongly pleads to acquit Lord Chancellor Bacon from the charge against him of corruption in his high office. His Essay "Of a Country House," in this work, is curious; particularly to those who wish to see the style of building, and the decorations of a country seat at that period. Mr. Nourse also published "A Discourse upon the Nature and Faculties of Man, with some Considerations upon the Occurrences of Humane Life." Printed for Jacob Tonson, at the Judge's Head, in Chancery-lane, 1686, 8vo. His chapter on Solitude, wherein he descants on the delights of rural scenery and gardens; and his conclusion, directing every man towards the attainment of his own felicity, are worth perusing. That on Death is forcibly written; he calls it "no more than for a man to close up all the travails, pains, and misfortunes of life, with one sweet and eternal sleep; he is now at everlasting rest; the fears and misery of poverty, the anxieties of riches, the vexations of a process, do not devour him. He does not fear the calumnies of the base, nor the frowns of the great. 'Tis death which delivers the prisoner from his fetters, and the slave and captive from his chain; 'tis death which rescues the servant from the endless toils of a laborious life, the poor from oppression, and makes the beggar equal with princes. Here desperation finds a remedy, all the languors of disease, all the frustrations and tediousness of life, all the infirmities of age, all the disquiets of the passions, and all the calamities of fortune, with whatever can make a man miserable, vanish in these shades." In his very curious "Essay of a Country House," he thus moralizes:—"The variety of flowers, beautiful and fragrant, with which his gardens are adorned, opening themselves, and dying one after another, must admonish him of the fading state of earthly pleasures, of the frailty of life, and of the succeeding generations to which he must give place. The constant current of a fountain, or a rivulet, must remind of the flux of time, which never returns."
Samuel Collins, Esq. of Archeton, Northamptonshire, author of "Paradise Retrieved; 1717, 8vo. In the Preface to the Lady's Recreation, by Charles Evelyn, Esq. he is extremely severe on this "Squire Collins," whom he accuses of ignorance and arrogance.
John Evelyn, son of the author of Sylva. His genius early displayed itself; for when little more than fifteen, he wrote a Greek poem, which must have some merit, because his father has prefixed it to the second edition of his Sylva. In Mr. Nicoll's Collection of Poems, are some by him. There are two poems of his in Dryden's Miscellany. He translated Plutarch's Life of Alexander from the Greek; and the History of Two Grand Viziers, from the French. When only nineteen, he translated from the Latin, Rapin on Gardens. He died in 1698. The Quarterly Review, in its review of Mr. Bray's Memoirs of Evelyn, thus speaks of this son, and of his father:—"It was his painful lot to follow to the grave his only remaining son, in the forty-fourth year of his age, a man of much ability and reputation, worthy to have supported the honour of his name. Notwithstanding these repeated sorrows, and the weight of nearly fourscore years, Evelyn still enjoyed uninterrupted health, and unimpaired faculties; he enjoyed also the friendship of the wise and the good, and the general esteem beyond any other individual of his age."[50]
Thomas Fairchild, whose garden and vineyard at Hoxton, Mr. Bradley mentions in high terms, in numberless pages of his many works. I will merely quote from one of his works, viz. from his Philosophical Account of the Works of Nature:—"that curious garden of Mr. Thomas Fairchild, at Hoxton, where I find the greatest collection of fruits that I have yet seen, and so regularly disposed, both for order in time of ripening and good pruning of the several kinds, that I do not know any person in Europe to excel him in that particular; and in other things he is no less happy in his choice of such curiosities, as a good judgement and universal correspondence can procure." Mr. Fairchild published The City Gardener; 8vo. 1722, price 1s. He corresponded with Linnæus. He left funds for a Botanical Sermon to be delivered annually at St. Leonard, Shoreditch, on each Whitsun Tuesday, "On the wonderful works of God in the creation, or on the certainty of the resurrection of the dead, proved by the certain changes of the animal and vegetable parts of the creation."[51] Dr. Pulteney thus speaks of Mr. Fairchild:—"My plan does not allow me to deviate so far as to cite authors on the subject of gardening, unless eminent for their acquaintance with English botany. Some have distinguished themselves in this way; and I cannot omit to mention, with applause, the names of Fairchild, Knowlton, Gordon, and Miller. The first of these made himself known to the Royal Society, by some 'New Experiments relating to the different, and sometimes contrary motion of the Sap;' which were printed in the Phil. Trans. vol. xxxiii. He also assisted in making experiments, by which the sexes of plants were illustrated, and the doctrine confirmed. Mr. Fairchild died in November, 1729."