lvi INTRODUCTION 



value, that these scattered notices of Evelyn possess fo 

 us. A century later Arthur Young followed in his 

 footsteps, and to some extent achieved a similar result, 

 but his object was rather the observation and improve- 

 ment of the Science of Agriculture than the Fine Art 

 of Gardening. 



The "Plan of a Royal Garden," or Elysium 

 Brittannicum (perhaps inspired by Bacon), is a magnifi- 

 cent synopsis or torso, to which it is not too late to 

 hope that other fragments, (besides the " Acetaria " and 

 Browne's treaties on ** Grafting " and " Garlands," 

 printed hereafter,) may yet be restored : for that same 

 library at Wotton may one day yield up to a patient 

 and grateful posterity the MS. which, we have 

 Evelyn's own word for it, he left in a more or less 

 complete state. In his letter to Sir Thomas (then 

 Dr.) Browne he writes of having " tolerably finished " 

 as far as Chapter XL, Lib. II., 1 which is " Of Statues, 

 Busts, Obelisks," &c. ; 2 and says definitely that Chapter 

 VII. of the last Book. " is in a manner finished." The 

 contents of this important chapter are fully set out in 

 his Postscript (pp. 178-182), and this alone would be 

 an inestimable gift to the lover of Garden History. 



Evelyn was not only a writer, but a prophet. In 

 1 See post, p. 177. 2 Ibid., p. 195. 



