To the %eader* 



fole Pi5/4/ejof their ignorant H/Wj- and Ser'vants^ who yug^cur- 

 are (generally fpeaking) more fit to Learn then to In- tiHm,\.y.&c. 

 ftruft. Male agitur cum Domino quern VilUcU'S docet, was 

 was an Obfervation of old Cato's ; and 'twas Ifchomachtts 

 who told Socrates (^difcourfing one day upon a like fiib- 

 ^eft) Tihat it was far eafier to Make then to Find a good 

 Husband-man : I have often prov'd it fo in Gard'ners j 

 and I believe it will hold in moft of our Country Employ- 

 ments : We are to exa£l Labour ^ not ConduSl and Keafon, 

 from the greateft part of them '-, and the bufinefs of 

 Tlantin^ is an Art or Science (for fo Varro has folemnly 'DeK.Ki 

 defin'd it^ and That exceedingly wide of Truth, which 

 (it feems) many in his time accounted of it ; faciUimam' 

 ejfe^ nee idlim acuminis Kuflicationem^ an cafie and infipid ^ 



Study. It was the fimple Culture only, with fo much 

 difficulty retriv'd from the late confufion of an inteftinc *^ 



and bloody War\\\^c Ours^ and now put mKeputation 

 again, which made the noble Poet write 



Verbis ea ifincere magnum Gcorg.t; 



Quam fit^ d^ angujiis hunc addere rebus honorem. 



erant 

 enato- 



Seeing, as the Orator does himfelf cxprefs it. Nihil eft ^"''^^f 



. => ' , , _,, . 1.1 1 • *««<^ Senate 



homino libera dignms \ There is nothing more becoming ra. cic. de 

 and worthy of a Gentleman. Seneft. 



And thus you have in part what I had to produce in 

 extenuation of this my Ad'venture^ that Animated with a 

 Command^ and Aflifted by divers Worthy Perfons (whofe 

 Names I am prone to celebrate with all juft KefpeSis) I 

 have prefumed to caft in my Symbol •■, and which, with the 

 reft that are to follow, may (I hopej be in fome degree 

 ferviceable to /?«/;/ (who e' re the happy Per/ow be) which 

 fhall oblige the World with that com^kzt Syjieme oi Agri- 

 culture^ which as yet feems a defiderate, and wanting to 

 its perfection. It is (I allure you) what is one of the 

 Principal D.^fe/zx of the ROYAL SOClE^Ty not 

 in this Particular only, but through all the Liberal and 

 more ufeful Arts i and for which (in the eftimation of all 

 equal Judges) it will merit the grcateft of Encourage- 

 ments y that fo at laft wl at the Learned Columella has 



B 2 witu\Y 



