shews his disapprobation of that pitiful spirit, which makes 

 farmers starve their cattle, their land, and every thing belong- 

 ing to them; chusing rather to lose a pound than spend a shil- 

 ling. Upon the whole, his book displays all the qualities of a 

 well-disposed man, as well as of an able farmer. He wrote in 

 the infancy of farming, and therefore I shall give a full ac- 

 count of his practice, especially as his precepts will be com- 

 prised in a narrow compass, and as a sort of justice done to 

 him as an original writer." 



Mr. Mavor observes, "The precepts of Tusser indeed are 

 so excellent, that few can read them without profit and im- 

 provement; he appears to have possessed such a degree of 

 pious resignation to the will of the Supreme, of christian 

 charity, and of good humour, under all his miscarriages, 

 that his character rises high in our esteem, independent of 

 his merits as a writer. The cultivated and liberal mind of 

 Tusser seems to have been ill-suited to his fortune, and to 

 his vocation. A love of hospitality probably kept him from 

 independence; yet if he was imprudent, we cannot help loving 

 the man and admiring the justness of his sentiments on every 

 subject connected with life and morals." 



Fuller, in his Worthies of Essex, says, " he spread his 

 bread with all sorts of butter, yet none would stick thereon. 

 Yet I hear no man to charge him with any vicious extrava- 

 gancy, or visible carelessness, imputing his ill success to 

 some occult cause in God's counsel." 



I am indebted, in some degree, for these several testimonies, 

 to Mr. Mavor's spirited edition of this book, which he has 

 enriched with a biographical sketch of Tusser, and with 

 many interesting illustrations of his poem. He exhibits an- 

 other instance of the private character of Tusser, in his con- 

 cluding remarks on the last page of his work: — " The moral 



c 



