INTRODUCTION. 



IT is now universally allowed, that no coun- 

 try ever attained to such eminence, either in 

 commerce or the arts, as the British nation 

 has at present. 



As the mind has become more enlight- 

 ened, the taste of course has become more 

 pure; whence it is no wonder that man 

 in this island has now so much directed his 

 attention to an Employment which the Al- 

 mighty deemed best adapted for his happi- 

 ness in the creation of the world : " And 



: 



the Lord took the man, and put him into 

 the garden of Eden, to dress it, and to 

 keep it." 



No people of old, in their greatest pro- 

 sperity, ever ceased to cultivate and honour 

 this useful pursuit, which, far from being con- 

 sidered a mean and vulgar study, command- 

 ed the attention of kings themselves. Of 

 Solomon it is written, that " he made cedars 

 to be as the sycamore trees that are in the 



B 



