The PREFACE. 



And indeed, Gardening, and the other Bu- 

 finefs and Pleafures of a Country Life, being 

 Subjefts of fo noble and fublime a Tafte, be- 

 yond any one Art (I might fay the col- 

 leftive Body of Arts) carries with it its own 

 Recommendation, were there no Examples 

 or Precepts of this kind either in Sacred or 

 Civil Writ^'j' no!ij:^;?^.>w Jit'IjooI i: '•.> .^nui.;') 

 . Tis in the quiet Enjoyment 'of Rural Ite- 

 lights, the refrelhing and odoriferous Breezes 

 of Garden Air, that That Deluge of Vapours 

 and thofe Terrors of Hypocondraifm, which 

 croud and opprefs the Head, aredifpell'd, and 

 that divine kind oiHalitus there drawn, perfpi- 

 ring the Organs of the Body, which regulates 

 the precipitate Palpitation of the Heart, and 

 the irregular Pulfation of the whole Machine : 

 'Tis there Reafon, Judgment, and Hands are 

 fo bufily employed, as to leave no room for 

 any vain or trifling Thoughts to interrupt 

 ^theirfweet Retirement: And 'tis from the 

 Admiration of thefe that the Soul is elevated 

 to unlimited Heights above, and modell'd 

 and prepared for the fweet' Reception and 

 happy Enjoyment of Felicities, the durableft 

 as well as happieft that Omnifcience has 

 treated. And confidering to what a pitch 

 the Praftice and Efteem of Gard'ning is with- 

 in thefe thirty Years laft paft arriv'd, it may 

 not improbably be matter of fome Obferva- 

 tion in the Nobility and Gentry of Great- 

 Britain^ the Encouragers and Promoters oi 

 it, that fo few Books have been originally 

 a 3 pub- 



