49 



to notice with whom the invention was first 

 deemed possible : and I have great pride and 

 satisfaction in stating, that, after an unpre- 

 judiced research, I find this wonderful dis- 

 covery has been left for the perseverance of 

 the English, who, although late in taking up 

 botanical studies, have now surpassed what- 

 ever was done by the ancient world in this 

 science. 



Lord Bacon, who has been called the 

 Prophet of Arts, and who looked into nature 

 with a most curious eye of inquiry, evidently 

 suspected that it was possible to cross the 

 breed of plants, and so procure kinds, by art, 

 as novel as those which nature has sometimes 

 produced by accident. 



" We see/' says the great Verulam, " that 

 in living creatures that have male and female, 

 there is copulation of several kinds, and so 

 compounded creatures; as the mule that is 

 generated betwixt the horse and the ass; 

 and some other compounds which we call 

 monsters. 



" The compounding or mixture of kinds 

 in plants is not found out ; which never- 

 theless, if it be possible, is more at command 

 than that of living creatures; wherefore it 

 were one of the most notable experiments 

 touching plants to find it out, for so you 



E 



