Acetaria: A Discourse of Sallets by John Evelyn


Main
- books.jibble.org



My Books
- IRC Hacks

Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare

External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd

books.jibble.org

Previous Page | Next Page

Page 3

Thus, whilst King _Solomon's_ Temple was _Consecrated_ to the _God_
of _Nature_, and his true Worship; _This_ may be _Dedicated_, and set
apart for the _Works_ of _Nature_; deliver'd from those Illusions and
Impostors, that are still endeavouring to cloud and depress the True,
and _Substantial Philosophy_: A _shallow_ and _Superficial Insight_,
wherein (as that Incomparable Person rightly observes) having made so
many _Atheists_: whilst a _profound_ and thorow _Penetration_ into her
_Recesses_ (which is the _Business_ of the _Royal Society_) would lead
Men to the _Knowledge_, and _Admiration_ of the _Glorious Author_.

And now, _My Lord_, I expect some will wonder what my Meaning is, to
usher in a _Trifle_, with so much Magnificence, and end at last in a
fine _Receipt_ for the _Dressing_ of a _Sallet_ with an Handful of
_Pot-Herbs_! But yet, _My Lord_, this _Subject_, as low and despicable
as it appears, challenges a Part of _Natural History_, and the Greatest
Princes have thought it no Disgrace, not only to make it their
_Diversion_, but their _Care_, and to promote and encourage it in the
midst of their weightiest Affairs: He who wrote of the _Cedar_ of
_Libanus_, wrote also of the _Hysop which grows upon the Wall_.

To verifie this, how much might I say of _Gardens_ and _Rural
Employments_, preferrable to the Pomp and Grandeur of other Secular
Business, and that in the Estimate of as Great Men as any Age has
produc'd! And it is of such _Great Souls_ we have it recorded; That
after they had perform'd the Noblest Exploits for the Publick, they
sometimes chang'd their _Scepters_ for the _Spade_, and their _Purple_
for the Gardiner's _Apron_. And of these, some, My _Lord_, were
_Emperors, Kings, Consuls, Dictators_, and Wise _Statesmen_; who amidst
the most important Affairs, both in Peace and War, have quitted all
their Pomp and Dignity in Exchange of this Learned Pleasure: Nor that
of the most _refin'd_ Part of _Agriculture_ (the _Philosophy_ of the
_Garden_ and _Parterre_ only) but of _Herbs_, and wholesom _Sallets_,
and other plain and useful Parts of _Geoponicks_, and Wrote _Books_ of
_Tillage_ and _Husbandry_; and took the _Plough-Tackle_ for their
_Banner_, and their _Names_ from the _Grain_ and _Pulse_ they sow'd,
as the Marks and Characters of the highest Honor.

But I proceed no farther on a _Topic_ so well known to Your Lordship:
Nor urge I Examples of such Illustrious Persons laying aside their
Grandeur, and even of deserting their Stations; (which would infinitely
prejudice the Publick, when worthy Men are in Place, and at the Helm)
But to shew how consisent the Diversions of the _Garden_ and _Villa_
were, with the highest and busiest Employment of the _Commonwealth_, and
never thought a Reproch, or the least Diminution to the Gravity and
Veneration due to their Persons, and the Noble Rank they held.

Will Your Lordship give me Leave to repeat what is said of the Younger
_Pliny_, (Nephew to the _Naturalist_) and whom I think we may parallel
with the Greatest of his time (and perhaps of any since) under the
Worthiest _Emperor_ the _Roman_ world ever had? A Person of vast
Abilities, Rich, and High in his Master's Favour; that so Husbanded his
time, as in the Midst of the weightiest Affairs, to have Answer'd, and
by his [2]_Example_, made good what I have said on this Occasion. The
Ancient and best Magistrates of _Rome_ allow'd but the _Ninth_ Day for
the _City_ and _Publick Business_; the rest for the _Country_ and the
_Sallet Garden_: There were then fewer _Causes_ indeed at the _Bar_;
but never greater _Justice_, nor _better Judges_ and _Advocates_. And
'tis hence observed, that we hardly find a Great and Wise Man among
the Ancients, _qui nullos habuit hortos_, excepting only _Pomponius
Atticus_; wilst his Dear _Cicero_ professes, that he never laid out his
Money more readily, than in the purchasing of _Gardens_, and those sweet
Retirements, for which he so often left the _Rostra_ (and Court of the
Greatest and most flourishing State of the World) to visit, prune, and
water them with his own Hands.

But, _My Lord_, I forget with whom I am talking thus; and a _Gardiner_
ought not to be so bold. The present I humbly make your Lordship, is
indeed but a _Sallet_ of _Crude Herbs_: But there is among them that
which was a _Prize_ at the _Isthmian Games_; and Your Lordship knows
who it was both accepted, and rewarded as despicable an Oblation of
this kind. The Favor I humbly beg, is Your Lordship's Pardon for this
Presumption. The Subject is _mean_, and requires it, and my _Reputation_
in danger; should Your Lordship hence suspect that one could never write
so much of _dressing Sallets_, who minded anything serious, besides the
gratifying a Sensual Appetite with a Voluptuary _Apician_ Art.

Truly, _My Lord_, I am so far from designing to promote those _Supplicia
Luxuri�_, (as _Seneca_ calls them) by what I have here written; that
were it in my Power, I would recall the World, if not altogether to
their Pristine _Diet_, yet to a much more _wholsome_ and _temperate_
than is now in Fashion: And what if they find me like to some who are
eager after _Hunting_ and other Field-Sports, which are _Laborious_
Exercises? and _Fishing_, which is indeed a _Lazy_ one? who, after all
their Pains and Fatigue, never eat what they take and catch in either:
For some such I have known: And tho' I cannot affirm so of my self,
(when a well drest and excellent _Sallet_ is before me) I am yet a very
moderate Eater of them. So as to this _Book-Luxury_, I can affirm, and
that truly what the _Poet_ says of himself (on a less innocent Occasion)
_Lasciva pagina, vita proba._ God forbid, that after all I have advanc'd
in Praise of _Sallets_, I should be thought to plead for the Vice I
censure, and chuse that of _Epicurus_ for my _Lemma_; _In hac arte
consenui_; or to have spent my time in nothing else. The _Plan_ annext
to these Papers, and the _Apparatus_ made to superstruct upon it, would
acquit me of having bent all my Contemplations on _Sallets_ only. What
I humbly offer Your Lordship, is (as I said) Part of _Natural History_,
the Product of _Horticulture_, and the _Field_, dignified by the most
illustrious, and sometimes tilled _Laureato Vomere_; which, as it
concerns a Part of _Philosophy_, I may (without Vanity) be allow'd to
have taken some Pains in Cultivating, as an inferior Member of the
_Royal Society_.

Previous Page | Next Page


Books | Photos | Paul Mutton | Thu 28th Mar 2024, 15:41