[Sylva, Vol. 1 (of 2) by John Evelyn]@TWC D-Link book
Sylva, Vol. 1 (of 2)

INTRODUCTION
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_Male agitur cum Domino quem Villicus docet_, was an Observation of old _Cato_'s; and 'twas _Ischomachus_ who told _Socrates_ (discoursing one day upon a like subject) _That it was far easier to _Make_, than to _Find_ a good Husband-man_: I have often prov'd it so in _Gardeners_; and I believe it will hold in most of our _Country_ Employments: Country People universally know that all Trees consist of _Roots_, _Stems_, _Boughs_, _Leaves_, &c.

but can give no account of the _Species_, _Virtues_, or farther Culture, besides the making of a Pit or Hole; casting, and treading in the Earth, &c.

which require a deeper search, than they are capable of: We are then to exact _Labour_, not _Conduct_ and _Reason_, from the greatest part of them; and the business of _Planting_ is an _Art_ or _Science_ (for so _Varro_ has solemnly defined it;{lxxx:1}) and that exceedingly wide of Truth, which (it seems) many in his time accounted of it; _facillimam esse, nec ullius acuminis Rusticationem_,{lxxx:2} namely that it was an easie and insipid Study.

It was the simple _Culture_ only, with so much difficulty retrieved from the late confusion of an intestine and bloody _War_, like that of _Ours_, and now put in _Reputation_ again, which made the noble _Poet_ write, ........How hard it was Low Subjects with illustrious words to grace.
........_Verbis ea vincere magnum Quam sit, & angustis hunc addere rebus honorem._ Georg.

3.
Seeing, as the _Orator_ does himself express it, _Nihil est homine libero dignius_; there is nothing more becoming and worthy of a _Gentleman_, no, not the Majesty of a{lxxx:3} _Consul_.


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