^4 T^he History Chap, i . 



fcap*d being fton'd, being fuppos'd by the Po- 

 pulace to be the Occafion of it. 



That Prince therefore fet himfelf to work, 

 by all imaginable Methods, to retrieve the 

 Miferies of his Country, by Improvement in 

 Agriculture, and the like ^ in which Virgil 

 was not a little aflifting. It was thought by 

 fome, that he had begun them lo-ng before, 

 and that they were finifli'd in his Travels 

 round Italy ^ or at Manuia 5 it being obferv'd 

 that his Precepts a?,reed rather with the Man- 

 tiian than Roman Soil. 



But however that be, he has in a few 

 Words excell'd all that ever wrote before, or 

 indeed fince him 5 and confidering the Nature 

 of Poetry how much it forces an Author out 

 of the direft Road of delivering Precepts, he 

 is very intelligible ; Brevity was (if it may 

 be fo called) his only Fault : How great his 

 Labour muft have been, is obvious to any that 

 confiders the Strength, I may fay the eternal 

 Duration of his Works. 



The Subftance of his 2d Georgick^ which 

 chiefly relates to Gard'nivg (the Theme of 

 the enfuing Subjeft) is, firft, Direftions for 

 the Raifing of Trees, by the feveral Methods 

 then in ufe ^ then a Defcription of their Va- 

 riety, and Rules for the Management of each 

 of them in particular 3 he points out the Soils 

 in which they thrive beft, and takes occafion 

 to run out into that of Italy 5 after which 

 he gives Diredions for the difcovering the 



Nature of every Spil 3 prefcribes Rules for 



the 



