tiful order, and regular difpofition of greens, flowers, and fruits. The antiquity of agriculture cannot certainly be contefted by any other art; fince the three firft men in the world, were a gardener, a ploughman, and a grazier: Though this be an unquestionable truth, yet the ancients differed in opinion concerning the first inventor of it but this variety of opinions might arife from the feveral perfons that first introduced it into feveral countries: Varro, lib. in. de R. R. confeffes it to be the most ancient of all arts: The Egyptians faid, it was first found out by Ofyris, or Maneros, Jofephus attributes it to Cain, as he does pafturage to Abel. Antiqu. lib. i. cap. 3. The Greeks afcribed it to Ceres, and the Italians to Saturn. Pliny, lib. xvii. cap. 9. fays, that King Augeas was the first who invented manuring of ground by ftercoration, and that he first inftructed the Greeks in that art, as Hercules did the Italians: who nevertheless immortalized, and made a god of their King Stercutius, the fon of Faunus; if he were not rather the fame, as fome will have him to be, with Evander, the Arcadian, who first introduced the worship of Faunus, that is to fay, of Pan, or univerfal Nature, into Italy, and taught the Latins the art of manuring ground, for which he was honoured by the name of Stercutius. Tertullian in Apologet. calls him Sterculus or Sterculius; and Servius on neid. viii. Sterquilinius, whom he afferts to be the fame with Pitumnus, brother of Pilumnus: By Macrobius he is called Stercutus, which he proves to be one of the names of Saturn: "Saturnum Romani etiam Stercutum vocant, quod primus ftercore fœcunditatem agris comparaverit." Saturnal lib. i. cap. 7. But as no other art can difpute antiquity with this of agriculture, fo neither can any lay claim to an equal share of dignity: It is indeed, as CoJumella, lib. i. cap. 1. calls it, res fine dubitatione proxima & quafi confanguinea Philofophiæ," without doubt the next neighbour, and the nearest of kin to philofophy; Varro fays the principles of it are the fame with thofe that Ennius makes to be the principles of the whole univerfe; earth, water, air, and the fun : And Cicero de fene&ute, fpeaking of the pleafures of a husbandman, fays of them, that they feem to him to approach very near to the pleafures of a philofopher, " mihi quidem ad fapientis vitam proximè videntur accedere." To be a husbandman, fays our excellent Cowley, is but a retreat from the city, to be a philofopher apart from the world; or rather, a retreat from the world, as it is man's, into the world, as it is God's. There is no other fort of life, that affords fo many branches of praise to a panegyrift: the utility of it to a man's felf; the ulefulness, or rather neceffity of it, to all the reft of mankind: Ita innocence, its pleasures, its antiquity, its dignity: Under all which heads that author has treated of it in his admirable Effay of Agriculture, to which I refer the reader. Ver. 1443. Lucretius. "Stirpes committere ramis;" by which he expreffes only one of the feveral ways of infition, and what we call to graff cleft-wife. Virgil in the fecond Georgic teaches the feveral ways, by which trees are propagated, either naturally, or artificially. They may be produced three feveral ways by nature. 1. Of their own accord as the broom, the withy, the poplar, the offer, &c. are. 11. By their feed that drops by chance: I fay, by chance; for there is a certain way of fowing that belongs to art the trees that grow of fortui tous feed, are the chefnut, the oak, the beech, &c. III. By their root: for the cherry-tree, hornbeam, laurel, &c. will fhoot out young trees from their roots. The fame poet teaches, that trees may be propagated feven feveral ways by art, and the induftry of men : I. By avulfion, that is to fay, by plucking up young fhoots, roots and all, from the bodies of trees, and planting them in the ground. II. By planting the ftocks, that is to fay, the lowest and thickest part of the trunk, together with the roots; or by taking the stock without any root, and either cutting it into a sharp poist at the lower end, or splitting it at the bottem, and then planting it; but the general way is to split it in form of a crofs; and therefore Virgil calls fuch stocks quadrifidas. Quadrifidafque fudes, et acuto robore vallos. Georg. ii. ver. 24 III. By propagation, which is chiefly used in vines; and this is done by bending the shoots of branches in the fhape of a bow, without cutting them off from the mother-tree, and laying dow the top of them into the ground. The branch o bent is called propago, a layer. Milton deferibes this way of propagating the Indian fig-tree, which, fays he, In Malabar or Decan fpreads her arms, IV. By taking little trees or plants, together with the earth that covers them about the root, and tranfplanting them into another place. V. By cutting off a fucker from a tree, and planting it, even though it have no root. VI. By cutting the ftem of the tree without any root to it, but in the middle, and into feveral pieces, and planting them. This way is chiefly pract fed in the propagation of the olive-tree. Vil. When a branch, or twig, of one tree isin. ferted into another tree, and that too of a different kind, and paffes into the nature of it. This is the true grafting, which is practifed in two man ners: One, which the Latins call infitio, i. e. grafting within a cleft made in the top of the flock; which is the ordinary way now used, and proper ly called grafting; the other, inoculation, called likewife budding, and grafting fcutcheonwife Pliny adds a third way, which he calls emplaftra tio; which is generally confounded with inocula 1 tion; yet there feems to be this difference between these three ways of grafting: That called infition, was done by cleaving the trunk of the tree, and putting one or more twigs into the cleft. Inoculation, by making an aperture between the bark and the trunk, and including in it the graff or twig. And lastly, emplaftration, by taking off part of the bark of the flock, and fubftituting in its place the bud of another tree, exactly of the like bigness, fo as to fill up the space of the bark that is taken away. This is manifeft from Pliny, lib. xvi. cap. 16, 18, &c. whence it is evident, that this art of grafting has been variously practifed in different ages. And our gardeners at this day differ from the method of Virgil, who teaches to make the aperture in the very knot or joint of the flock; whereas they make it either below or above, in that part of the bark that is brightest and Imootheft. Ver. 1452. See above, ver. 308. Ver. 1471. Lucret. -Nam tum funt omnia cordi: Which is the reading of all the copies; but Faber fays, it ought to be " otia cordi," a judicious emendation, which our tranflator has followed. V. flius on Catullus, p. 167. corrects this passage of our poet, and fays it ought to be read, " omnia chorda." For after men, says he, have indulged and filled themselves with eating, nothing is more delightful than mufic, which at that time 18, 7 wave, all things. Ver. 1472. This, and the five following verfes are repeated from book ii, ver. 31. Cowley and A nacreon: Underneath this myrtle fhade, Ver. 1458. Music too, like all the other arts, when first invented, was rude and unpolished; nor Compare Creech's tranflation of this paffage was it more at firft than an imitation of the chirp-with the original of Lucretius, and with thefe ing and finging of birds. Then having obferved, verfes of Cowley, and judge from whence he took that reeds, when fhaken by a gentle gale, fent forth a whispering murmur, they made themselves pipes of reeds; with these the penfive fhepherds it Ver. 1481. Lucretius : Tum caput, atque humeros plexis redimire corollis, Where the poet alludes to the luxury of his own were wont to footh their cares, and, when the neighbourhood met to be merry, they delighted, with their uncouth airs, the whole company and themselves. In thefe merry affemblies they first began to laugh and jeft at one another, and to trample the ground with unequal fteps; and this laid the first foundation of dancing Thus they diverted themselves, and knew no better; nor do our more artful and melodious airs delight us more, than these unharmonious artlefs ftrains of theirs did them; but new things always please, and we grow weary of the old. Thus men began to loath their acorns, and to indulge their appetites with more delicious food. Thus they Ver. 1495. To the fame purpose, Dryden, in defpifed their graffy beds, and invented eafy the Tragedy of Aurenge-Zebe, says finely: couches and beds of down. Thus they laid afideris not for nothing, that we life purfue; their fkins of beafts, and by degrees clothed themselves in purple. This is contained in fortyeight verses. Ver. 1462. The western winds, fays the poet, whistling among the reeds, taught them to make pipes of the ftalks. But of the first invention of pipes, fee Book iv. ver. 595. and Ovid. Metam. I. ver. 705. Ver. 1467. Virgil, Eclog. i. But of this cuftom fee at large book iii. ver. 896. Ver. 1489. Morpheus.] The fun, or rather the fervant, of Somnus, the god of fleep. See book iv. ver. 1026. Each day's a miftrefs, unenjoy'd before; Ver. 1502. Faber fays, that the first garment, though but a worthless undressed skin of a beast, fo pleafed thefe earth-born men, that it was the caufe of his death, who first invented and wore it. Ver. 1506. But this fighting and murder for the fkin, fays the poet, in fourteen verfes, may be in fome measure, excused; because, before they had found out the art of weaving, fkins were all the covering they had to defend their bodies from the cold. But what excufe is there for men, who destroy, and lay all things wafte, with wars and rapine, that they may fhine in gold, and clothe themselves in purple? This, nevertheless, they do, tranfported with an insatiable thirst of avarice and ambition, and because they are ignorant of that true picafure, which Epicurus taught; and which is not to greedy after delights, as content with neceffaries. Ver. 1514. For man is feldom contented with a competency, and never knows when he has enough nor when to put a stop to what Ovid calls excellently well: "Amor fceleratus habendi." Thus Manilius begins his fourth book: Quid tam follicitis vitam confumimus annis, rat, Which our translator has thus rendered: Why fhould our time run out in useless years Grown gray in cares, purfue the fenfeless ftrife, Ver. 1520. Men being convinced by a long experience, that the feafons of the year return in a certain order, and that nothing is imbroiled, nothing arrives by chance, (for the atoms that at first fortuitously jumbled together, are compofed in fuch a manner, both by the laws of their own motion, and by the power of nature, that unless fome caufe from without fhould hinder and dif turb them, they will for ever obferve the fame motions); they at length embraced a conftant and fettled way of life. To this end they conftituted republics, and established commerce between feveral nations. Then poets, the authors of hiftory, were born and lastly, the arts, that are fubfervient to life, or conducive to pleasure, were found out. For the names of the inventors of them are ftill preferved and known. Ver. 1525. The nations, who are famed for the invention of navigation, are, first the Phœr'cians, from whom it came to the Egyptians, and from them to the Greeks; among whom the firft that failed are faid to be the Cretans. But as to the first building, and ufe of fhips, not to mention Noah's ark, Clemens Alexandrinus afcribes the invention to Atlas, the Libyan; Æfchylus, to Prometheus; and Diodorus Siculus, to Neptune: the invention likewife of fails is afcribed by the fame Æfchylus to Prometheus alfo: by Diodorus to olus; by Pliny and Paufanias to Dedalus and his fon Icarus: by Caffidorus, lib. 5. Variar. and by Hyginus to Ifis; who, for that reafon, on the reverfe of fome of the Roman coins, is reprefentcd, holding in her hand, a fail, fwelling with the wind it is certain that the Latins styled her Dea Pelagia, as being the prefident of navigation: to confirm which, we find in Gruterus, p. 312. the following infcription: DIIS MANIBUS SAC AD ISIDEM PELAGIAM. Inventâ fecuit primus qui nave profundum, Cordaque languentem dedidicêre metum; Ver. 1526. Thus too Manilius, lib. i. ver. 87. Tum vagus in cæcum penetravit navita pontum, Fecit et ignotis itiner commercia terris. Which Creech thus renders: Through feas unknown the failor then was hurl'd; And gainful traffic join'd the diftant world. The original of traffic is generally afcribed to the Phoenicians: fome indeed, particularly Phornutu or Cornutus, de Naturâ Deorum, and Cæfar, lib. 6. de Bello Gall. attribute it to Mercury, when, for that reafon Arnobius calls "Nundinarum, Mer cium, Commerciorumque mutator," lib. 3. adv. Gentes. And that merchants ufed to facrifice to ciation and commerce, is confirmed by Ovid. lib. him as to the god of gain, and prefident of nego 4. Faftor. where speaking to Mercury, he says, Te quicunque fuas profitentur vendere merces, Thure dato, tribuas ut fibi lucra rogant. This too is confirmed by that ancient infcripti, that was found at Metz, in the year 1589, ad's recorded by Philippus Thomafinus de Des pag. 274. MERCURIO NEGOTIATORI SACRUM NUMISIUS ALBINUS Ver. 1528. Cicero says, that the invention of let ters has circumfcribed, in a few literal marks, the founds of the voice, which seemed infinite: “Sonos vocis, qui infiniti videbantur, paucis literarum notis terminavit." Tufcul. 1. Suidas calls it pas any propia, the grammatical philosophy, and afcribes the invention of it to Prometheus: others to the Phoenicians: thus Lucan: Phonices primi, famæ fi creditur, aufi Manfuram rudibus vocem fignare figuris. which paffage, Brebœuf, the French interpreter of that poct, applying it to Cadmus, who from the Phoenicians brought most of the letters of the Greek alphabet into Greece, has rendered in their excellent verfes. C'est de lui que nous vient cet art ingenieux Which I the rather choose to take notice of, becaufe they are finely rendered into our own language by a perfon of quality, and not till now made public. He that ingenious art did first descry But as to the first characterizers of speech, fee the Primus Moyfes Hebraicas exaravit literas: But the origin of letters is, with greater appearance of truth, referred by others to Adam himself : for is it not highly improbable, that he, who was to tranfmit all learning and knowledge down to his pofterity, fhould want the neceffary conveyances and inftruments for fo great a work? And this opinion is confirmed by the early mention that is made of letters, even in the days of Seth, who was his fon; and who no doubt received them from him. I know not of what weight it may feem, but I cannet omit to take notice, that, in the Vatican Library at Rome, there is extant, to this day, an ancient picture of Adam, with a hebrew infcription over his head; which indeed makes nothing to our prefent purpose: but under his feet there is another in Latin, conceived in thefe words: ADAM DIVINITUS EDOCTUS, PRIMUS TC SCIENTIARUM ET LITERARUM INVEN TOR. See Lomeier. de Biblioth. p. 10. OF THE SEVERAL WAYS OF WRITING PRACTISED BY THE ANCIENTS. HAVING given this fhort account of the first invention of letters, it may not be amifs in this place to give some account likewife in a fhort digreffion, how thofe characters of old preferved themselves from death. And indeed there is fcarce any matter capable of receiving the marks of letters, that fome or other of the ancients have not made ufe of for that purpose. The first letters that we read of were engraved in ftone: witness the two famous pillars of Enoch, one of which was yet remaining, even in the days of Jofephus and Jamblicus confeffes, that he took the principles of his mystical philofophy from the pillars of Mercury. Pliny, in his Natural Hiftory, lib. 7. cap. 5. acquaints us, that the Babylonians, and the Affyrians, engraved their laws in pillars of brick, "incoctis lateribus." And we know that Mofes writ his on ftone: Horace too makes mention of this fort of writing or ftones: Non incifa notis marmora publicis. The Roman laws of the twelve tables were engraven in brass; and fo too was the league made with the Latins, as Livy witneffes, Decad. i. lib. 2. And Talus, of whom was reported many ridiculous ftories, was, upon no other ground, feigned by the Cretans, to be a man made of brafs by Vulcan, but likewife he carried about Crete the laws that were graven in brass, and put them feverely in execution. Paufanias, in Boeoticis, makes mention of all the books of Hefiod, that are intituled, "Epywy zai hup, written in plates of lead: which fort of plates Suetonius, in the life of Nero, calls" chartam plumbeam, leaden paper: but this custom was in ufe even before the days of Job; who himself, chap. 19. cries out: "Oh that my words were graven with an iron pen, and lead in the rock for ever:" which the interpreters explain, that he would have the leaden plates placed upon rocks or pillars. They used alfo of old to write on leaves or plates of ivory; and hence the books were called "libri elephantini; and not as fome imagine from their bigness and huge bulk. Thus Martial. lib. 14. Epigram. 5. Languida nè tristes obfcurent lumina ceræ, Waxen table-books were very ancient; for Prœtus fent a letter in one of them by Bellerophon, as Homer tells us, Iliad 6. These tablebooks were made of wood, covered with wax, on which they writ with an inftrument of iron or brafs, and therefore they were called "pugillares, à pungendo," as Aldus Manutius obferves, De quæfitis per Epift. lib. 2. epift. 1. Georgius Longus, de Annulis Signatoriis cap. 8. defcribes them to be of a triangular form: but Laurentius Pignorius de fervis, p. 116. fays " Pugillarium forma fuit oblonga et quadrata, eminenti quâdam margine circumcirca conclufa, ut vidinius Romæ in veteri arcâ fepulchrali in hortis Cyriaci Mattheii." The fame Pignorius in the fame book, p 117. defcribes like wife the form of the Roman Graphium, or Stylus, with which they used to write in thefe waxen table-books: It was first made of iron; but that being dangerous to stab with, and too frequently abufed in that practice, was, in after times, forbid at Rome, and publicly prohibited to be worn, as Cafaubon notes on Suetonius, lib. i. cap. 82. and then flyles of bone were in ufe: these were made fharp at one end to cut the letters, and flat at the other to deface them; whence the phrafe," ftylum vertere :" this ftylus was ufually carried in a little cafe. called graphiarum, as Beroaldus observes on the fame place of Suetonius. As for flates, and plates of wood, it cannot be doubted but that they were used to write upon. Pancirolus tells us, That the Longobards, now by corruption called Lumbards, at their fire Q.q iij coming into Italy, made leaves to write on, of thin fhavings of wood, fome of which he had feen and read in his days. The ancients writ likewife on the leaves of palm-trees, fee Pliny, lib. xiii. cap. II. and thence letters are called Phœnician, not from the country, but from pavi, a palm-tree. Yet Guilandnus de Papyro, makes a mighty bustle to prove, that palm-leaves were never used to write upon; he believes that Phoenicea, which Pliny there ufes, is not the fame with going, and would have us read "malvarum," inftead of "palmarum. It is indeed true, that they did anciently write on the leaves of mallows likewife, as appears by Ifidorus, and the following epigram of Cinna, which that author cites : Hæc tibi Arateis multùm invigilata lucernis Prufiacâ vexi munera navicula. But this was not frequent: for the leaves of mallows are too foft, to be proper for that ufe. The names of those who were expelled the fenate at Athens, were written on leaves, though of what kind, is uncertain: but from thence the fentence againft them was called 'Εμφυλλοφόρησις ; and the names of those banished by the people, were written on shells but at Syracufe, the names of fuch fentenced citizens were written on the leaves of the olive-tree; and thence it was called Пaμος, ἀπὸ τὸ πετάλω ἐλαίας· And the Cumæan Sybil in Virgil was wont to make ufe of this fort of paper: Fata canit, foliifque notas et carmina mandat. An. iii. ver. 444. Upon which Hortenfius cites Varro to prove, that it was peculiar to that Sybil, to defcribe the oracles in the leaves of palm-trees: but Cerdanus believes it to have been the general custom of thofe times, and that they did not yet write on the barks of trees, or on the reed called papyrus, or on parchment. Fliny makes mention in several places of books made of linen: these were public records, and called by fome" libri lintei," by others, "lintez mappæ, and "carbafina volumina," filken vo. lumes: Claudian. Quid carmine pofcat Fatidico cuftos Romani carbafus ævi. And Symmachus Epiftolar. lib. 4. " Monitus Cumanos lintea texta fumpferunt:" and Pliny fays the Parthians ufcd to interweave letters in their clothes. The ancients were likewife wont to write on the thin kind of skin, that grows between the outmost bark and the body of the tree; and the paper, which the Chinese and fome Indians ufe to this day, feems to be made of that, or fomething like it and from thence a book was called liber. Having tried all thefe experiments, at length they fell to ufe paper, which they called Papyrus, from a reed of that name, that grew in the fens and marshy grounds in Egypt, and of which paper | was made they likewife called it Charta, from town of that name in the marthes of Egypt, wher it grew. Herodotus in Terpsichore fays, that even in his days the lonians called paper, fit, because in times past they were fain to fupply the want of paper with fkins, which shows the cre of Pliny, in faying, that neither paper nor pard ment were used before the time of Eumene; from whofe city Pergamus, parchment first can, and thence was called Pergamena: but of the invention, ufe, and improvement of paper and parchment, fee at large Melch. Guilandin a his Treatife de Papyr. I only add, that the Diphthere of the Greeks were only skins of beafts and that, in which Jupiter is feigned to keep his memorial of all things, was made of th fkin of the goat, that gave him fuck: and many are of opinion, that the famous golden fleece wa nothing but a book, written on a sheep's Diodorus the Sicilian, affirms in his fecond bost. that the annals of Perfia were written on fa fkins: and many more authorities might be pr duced, if they were needful. At length the poets, fays Lucretius, begat" celebrate in their hymns the noble actions cit heroes of those days; and this cuftom is at time obferved amongst the Indians, whofe y are the only hiftories they have. Laftly, thep teaches, that all the other arts were invented a improved by the fagacity and experience of infomuch that it is hard to fay, which of was first found out. Ver. 1536. This and the following verfeare peated from above, ver. 1467. Ver. 158. Thus too Manilius, fpeaking the invention of arts, fays, Semper enim ex aliis alias profeminat ufus. Which Creech paraphrafes thus: New hints from fettled arts experience gains, Inftructs our labours, and rewards our pains: Thus into many streams one spring divides, And through the valley rolls refreshing tides Confonant to which is this of Colamella, lib. 10. Ipfa novas artes varia experientia rerum, And Theocritus in Idyl. 21. afcribes the invention |