JOHN EVELYN. 



d«Jd 



at the age of five, when he started his school- 

 ing. At seventeen he went to the Univer- 

 sity of Oxford, and from there he entered 

 the Middle Temple, and for a time devoted 

 himself to law. The riots in London, inci- 

 dental to the period, drove the young man to 

 Holland, though that country was also m 

 arms, and he even served as a volunteer, but 

 in a month or two was again back at the 

 Middle Temple. In order to escape being 

 pressed to take the Solemn League and Cov- 

 enant, however, he was obliged to make a 

 four years' tour, from 1643, through France, 

 Italy and Switzerland. During his resi- 

 dence in Paris he became acquainted with 

 Sir Richard Browne, at that time British 

 Ambassador at the court of France, and ;n 

 the summer of 1647 Evelyn married Sir 

 Richard's daughter; settling some time af- 

 terwards at Sa>ies Court, in Kent, which he 

 rendered famous. It was at Sayes (for a 

 time occupied by Peter the Great of Russia 

 after Evelyn left it) that he made those ex- 

 periments and observations which he gave 

 to the world in his Gardeners' Almanac and 

 French Gardener, his ever- famous " Sylva : 

 a Discourse on Forest Trees," a monumen- 

 tal work, indeed, and a grand record by itself 

 to his wisdom and perspicacity. But with 

 these he published also a work entitles " Po- 

 mona," dealing with the orchard, nor did l.e 

 forget a pamphlet on " Salads." His 

 " Terra ; a Philosophical Discourse on Earth 

 and Vegetation," published in 1668, is read 

 with the very greatest interest at the present 

 day. His " Fumifugium," of 1661, dealing 

 with the smoke nuisance of London, again 

 asserts the far-seeing mind, pregnant with 

 reforms. But while Evelyn was so much a 

 gardener and natural philosopher, " his foi- 

 ble was omniscience," and at the king's re- 

 quest he produced a work on '' The Origin 

 and Progress of Navigation and Commerce." 

 The statements contained in the work being 



such as greatly incensed the Dutch, with 

 whom England was then much at war. Be- 

 sides the forenamed books and pamphlets, 

 Mr. Evelyn pubHshed others, respectively 

 entitles " Sculptura " (1662), a treatise on 

 the art of engraving ; " Numismata, a Dis- 

 course on Medals " (1668) ; and his " Par- 

 allel of the Ancient Architecture with the 

 Modern " (1664), as well as others on sub- 

 jects of lesser importance, including trans- 

 lations. His diary shows him to have been 

 a regular attendant at the court of both King 

 Charles and James II., and though he was 

 so studious and inclined to seclusion, yet he 

 constantly mixed up with the society and 

 fashion and intellect of the period, all of 

 which then concentrated in London. His 

 diary is not so complete as that of Pepys, 

 who was his close companion, but it is the 

 product of a finer mind, and certain passa- 

 ges, like his description of the great fire of 

 London, could not be improved on, as exam- 

 ples of descriptive English. After the de- 

 struction of so much of London by the fire, 

 he lent his counsel and assisted Sir Christo 

 pher Wren and those who attended to the 

 remodelling and rebuilding of the city. The 

 social history of Evelyn's time shows that 

 between London and the country the dis- 

 tinction was sharply marked. The country 

 gentlemen seldom came to London, but 

 busied themselves in cultivating their estates 

 and in administering justice in their neigh- 

 borhood. The provincial towns were the 

 social centres for the district. They were a 

 rude, uneducated race, " who drank hard and 

 swore freely," but in their rough way they 

 did their duty, and were revolted by the 

 sight of the vices of the court and capital. 

 The country clergy were hardly more let- 

 tered than their squires ; the learned and elo- 

 quent clergy nearly all came to London. 

 John. Evelyn died one year before the acces- 

 sion of Queen .^nne, at the age of 86 years. 



