And 'tis remarkable, that after all that wise _Solomon_ had said, that _All_ was _vanity and vexation of Spirit_ (among so many _particulars_ he reckons up,) he should be altogether _silent_, and say nothing concerning _Husbandry_; as, doubtless, considering it the most useful, innocent and laudable Employment of our Life, requiring those who cultivate the Ground to live in the Country, remote from _City_-Luxury, and the temptation to the Vices he condemns.

It was indeed a plain Man{lxxxii:1} (a _Potter_ by _Trade_) but let no body despise him because a _Potter_ (_Agathocles_, and a _King_ was of that _Craft_) who in my Opinion has given us the true reason why _Husbandry_, and particularly _Planting_, is no more improved in this Age of ours; especially, where Persons are _Lords_ and Owners of much _Land_.

The truth is, says he, when Men have acquired any considerable _Fortune_ by their _good Husbandry_, and _experience_ (forgetting that the greatest _Patriarchs_, _Princes_, their _Sons_ and _Daughters_, belonged to the _Plough_, and the _Flock_) they account it a _shame_ to breed up their _Children_ in the same Calling which they themselves were educated in, but presently design them _Gentlemen_: They must forsooth, have a _Coat_ of _Arms_, and live upon their _Estates_; So as by the time his _Sons_ Beard is grown, he begins to be asham'd of his _Father_, and would be ready to defie him, that should upon any occasion mind him of his _honest Extraction_: And if it chance that the good Man have other _Children_ to provide for; _This_ must be the Darling, be bred at _School_, and the _University_, whilst the rest must to _Cart_ and _Plow_ with the _Father_, &c.

This is the _Cause_, says my _Author_, that our _Lands_ are so ill _Cultivated_ and neglected.

Every body will subsist upon their own _Revenue_, and take their _Pleasure_, whilst they resign their _Estates_ to be manag'd by the most _Ignorant_, which are the _Children_ whom they leave at home, or the _Hinds_ to whom they commit them.