r 321 ] 



The old Romans eftecmed Agriculture fo ho- 

 nourable an employment, that in the earlicft times 

 of the Republick, when patriotifm was more than 

 an empty name, the higheft praife that could be 

 given a man was to fay of him, that he had well 

 cultivated his fpot of ground, 



A judicious and learned writcrf has of late very 

 juftly remarked, that " One of the mod immc- 

 " diate effects of an agricultural life is, that it 

 " imparts a fettled difpofition, and a great degree 

 <f of local attachment. The very method alfo, 

 " of procuring fubfiftence from the earth, renders 

 " the fpot which is the fubjeel: of cultivation 

 "familiar -, and a kind of natural gratitude for 

 i€ the increafe tends to endear it to the mind." 

 And that " it appears to have been a favourite 

 ft piece of policy with the Romans, founded on 

 " the bed principles, to inftil a notion of local 

 i€ attachment as early as poflible after the com- 

 f 1 mencement of the ftatc." 



The mod illuftrious fenators of the empire, 

 in the intervals of publick concerns, applied them- 

 felves to this profeflion; and fuch was the fim- 



f Dr. Falconer, in his Remarks on the Influence of Climate, 

 Situation, Way of Life, &c, on the Temper and Manners of Man- 

 Ju^l. Page^JJ. 



pliciry 



