.V/A' jTOXA.S MOORi:. 153 



and l)l(Hnlslic(l, lie (inislu-s up with a |)ra\cr, lu)|)iiiL; that tlicir sword.^ 

 may he luriu'd into i)runiiio- liooks, and thi-ir l'ris;hll'iil _u"iiiis into iiistru- 

 iiu'iits of iiudody. In'rijaniin Franklin is statt-d to have h -i-n a (Hsciph- 

 of this author. 



SIR JONAS MOORE. 



1617-1679. 



Ox page 154 I rcprodui-c the title page of a most curious litth- l)ook 

 which appears to have been thought a good (h-al of at the time of its 

 pubHcation. Sir Jonas Moore, F.R.S., was Surveyor-Cieneral of His 

 Majesty's Ordnance. He was born at Whittle, in Lancashire, in 1617, 

 and died suddenly while travelling to London from Portsmouth, at 

 Godalming, in 1679, and was buried in the Tower Chapel with a salute 

 of as many guns as he had counted years of life. 



He wrote several mathematical works, and " History or Narrative of 

 the great level of the fens called Bedford Level," with a large map 

 describing the operation fully. In his " Farmer's P>iend " (see illustration 

 on page 154) this worthy old Government official deplored the enormous 

 area of waste land in the country, which he recommended should 

 be planted with fruit trees for the production of cyder and perry, 

 and thus produce as great a revenue as that arising to the French King 

 from the planting of vineyards. He then discourses on the great profits 

 accruing from the industry, and holds that these home-made drinks are 

 as strong and wholesome as any that come from France and Spain. He 

 next details its manufacture, and reckoned that llic indu'^trv " ma\- save 

 ;{i8oo,ooo, which goes every year to the enrichment of other nations." 

 Chapter HL deals with the raising of the trees from kernels and their 

 general culture previous to becoming serviceable in the orchard. In 

 Chapter IV. he gives directions for brewing the finest malt liquors. As 

 to the water to use, he says: "Thames water taken up about Greenwich 

 at low water, where it is free from all Brackishness of the Sea, and has in 

 it all the fat and Sullage from this great City of London, makes a \vx\ 

 strong drink, which impro\es on being carried out to Sea." I Jul uj)on 

 the whole he thinks the finest ale was made from water taken from a clear 

 rivulet or brook undisturbed by navigation or fording. He was of 

 opinion that the water question was an ini])()rtant one, and a. Ids, 

 "possibly the best water in England is that at Casth^ton, in Derbyshire, 

 which owzes from a great rock." He had seen ale made of this water 

 as clear in three days as the spring water itself, and impossibU- to be 

 known by the eye in a glass from the finest Canary wine. As for your 

 malt, he adds, the north-country malts from Nottinghamshire, Derby- 

 shire, Leicestershire, Cheshire, and Lancashire are the best for ale. He 



