t 277 ] 



Nor was this alL Admitting that the principles^ 

 of vegetation had been accurately delineated to his 

 view, or experiments founded thereon propofed^ 

 it was not for him to inveftigate the one, or prac*- 

 tife the other, while ecclefiaftical tyranny pre- 

 vailed, and he knew that the pricfthood would 

 reap the far greater part of the fruits refulting from 

 his labour. 



Tyranny over the mind will ever retard the pro- 

 grefs of every kind of knowledge. 



But even after the Reformation, although many 

 of the arts and fclences were cultivated with pecu- 

 liar fpirit. Agriculture did not receive encourage- 

 ment proportioned to its great importance. Every 

 thing cannot be attended to at one time. 



A new world had been difcovered, which opened 

 the brighteft profpedls to thefe kingdoms, and 

 the attention of England was fixed chiefly on trade 

 and commerce. This circumftance, which for a 

 .while appeared to be a principal impediment to 

 hufbandry, and was the caufc of little attention 

 being paid to Fitz Herbert,* proved in the event 



• The father of EngUfti Hulbandry: made Judge of the Common- 

 Pleas about the year 1524. His book of hufbaadry was printed in 

 1534, after forty yeart' attention to the fubje<a, in his recciTcs between 

 the Terms. 



Vol. I. T one 



