ANCIENT 



AGRICULTURAL LITERATURE.* 



EARLY in the eighteenth century Adam Dickson was born 

 at Aberlady in the county of East Lothian. His father 

 followed the profession of theology and the practice of 

 agriculture, and brought up the son to his own pursuits. 

 A liberal education at the University of Edinburgh quali- 

 fied him for the former, and experience on his father's 

 large farm, aided by intercourse " with the farmers of that 

 opulent county, who are many of them not unfit to con- 

 verse with men of letters," made him an adept in the 

 latter. He was, says his biographer, " a man of a very 

 lively apprehension, of an ardent mind, and of a clear and 

 sound judgment." In 1750 he was ordained minister of 

 Dunse in the shire of Berwick ; but even at that early 

 period the anticipatory growlings of the storm which was 

 destined a century later to rend the Kirk of Scotland in 

 twain, were now and then heard, and an opposition to his 

 settlement was raised among the parishioners of Dunse. 

 Such, however, were " the ability, good sense, and engaging 

 temper of Mr. Dickson, and such the candour and gene- 

 rosity of his conduct, that his most sanguine opponents 

 soon became his greatest friends." Having thus happily 



* " The History of Agriculture in Ancient, Mediseval, and Modern 

 Times." By Chandos Wren Hoskyns, Esq. 12mo., 1849. 



