71/OMAS r/n'OX. I; 



hv (iM or youiii;-, ()l)sri-\c tlir prints of his feet, ami if it Ix- lar^c wit 

 tliii-k heel, open elcft, loiio- spare, ami a deep }>rint, he is crrtaiiily o 

 " The Countryman's Almanack " is given at the end of the book, ; 

 mostly relates to the weatiier from observed signs. 



md 



THOMAS TRYON. 



1 670-1 720 {about). 



A MOST interesting book is "The Countryman's Companion," or a 

 new method of Ordering Horses and Sheep so as to preserve them both 

 from Diseases and Casualties, or to preserve them if fallen ill, and also 

 to render them much more serviceable and useful to their owners than 

 has yet been discovered, known, or practised, and particularly to preserve 

 sheep from that Monsterous, Mortifying Distemper, the Rot. By 

 Philotheos Physiologus (whose correct name was believed to be Thomas 

 Tryon), 1700. Printed and sold by Andrew Sowle, at the Crooked 

 Billet, in Holloway-court, Holloway-lane, near Shoreditch. The usual 

 lengthy preface discourses upon the position of man and his mercy 

 towards his beast. Man being the viceroy of creation should show great 

 wisdom in the management of the most useful of the inferior creatures 

 committed to his charge. Then follow^ chapters on the horse, his stable, 

 food, and drink, and in respect to the latter he considers ri\er water far 

 to be preferred to any other, and he recommends rain water for the 

 housewife. He is down on high living, and regrets " there should be 

 spent dailv in London ^^50,000 sterling in wines and spirilous liquors, 

 which is /," 18,250,000 everv year. A prodigious sum of monev to be 

 swallowed up in one vear bv a parcel of spoiled ^oods on a spot of 

 ground not above six miles long and three broad." lie devotes a 

 chapter to this class of tyrants, who are the curse of the country. 



He adds Jacob had twelve sons. " How many of them did he make 

 lawyers, University men, or Inns of Court gentlemen ? Xo, no ; the\- 

 were everyone of them shepherds, and were not ashamed of their 

 occupation nor thought it any dishonour to their birth." 



Then follow some seventy pages coni])rising an oration, entitli'd, 

 "The Planter's speech to his neighbours and counlrymiMi in Pennsylvania, 

 East and West Jersey, &c., and to all such as have transported them- 

 selves into New Colonies for the sake of a quiet life." This lengihv 

 epistle seems composed entirely of ravings against the- w ieked \\a\s of 

 living here. The writer was evidc'ntlv a vegetarian and a teetotaler, and 

 looked upon everyone who ditfered troni him as encourage-rs of wrath 



