Chap, il of GARDNING,£^^. 67 



GarSniTig ftiJl advancing to a higher and 

 higher pitch all that Reign, ( viz. King 

 Charles lldis) there feem'd to be nothing 

 wanting fo much as. the Recommendation 

 of it by the Mufes 5 for which Province 

 Mr. Cowley vj?iS certainly the fitteft : The^'^^.Cow- 

 firft he wrote, was Four Books in Latin ^^* 

 Verfe, upon Herbs , Plants , Trees, &c. 

 wherein he followed the Doftrine of the 

 Antients in the fpecifick Divifion of their 

 Plants, and all other Things that were ne^- 

 ceffary for fuch a Work. Thefe were 

 writ, as Bifhop Sp'at obferves in his Life^ 

 during the Time of the Unhappy Rebel- 

 lion and Ufurpatjon oi.. Oliver Crothwell^ 

 for, coming to England in Difguife, and that 

 he might the better correfpond with the 

 Royal Party here, and fend Intelligence of 

 the State of Things, hefurnifh'd himfelf with 

 Books 5 and under pretence of ftudying 

 Phyfick, he retired into Kent^ where he 

 compos'd thofe excellent Lines afore-men- 

 tion'd. But that which he then made ufe of 

 as a Vizor, grew afterwards familiar, and fo 

 broke through the cloudy Shades of a do- 

 meftick E'xile. His Delight in Gard^ning^ 

 and the other Diverfions of a Country Life, 

 afterwards encreafing with his Liberty, he 

 furpafs'd (if poflible) the Divine Virgil 

 himfelf. Of the feveral Themes he chofe to 

 difplay the Livelinefs of his Fancy, and the 

 Seraphick Idea's he had of Gardening ^ I fhall 

 only chufe this which follows : 



F 2 JFbere 



