posterity, contains 8 pages of quarto size, bound in a volume of letters and sermons of that period. The subject is in the form of a letter, and contained in vague and trifling speculations without any definite prescription.

The writers who immediately followed Plattes all allowed his genius-that he had a bold adventurous cast of mind, and preferred the faulty sublime to the faulty mediocrity—that he was an original genius, and an ingenious writer-a singular honest man-and that he had as excellent a genius in agriculture as any man that ever lived in this nation before him. It seems he was a very needy person, and was much relieved by Hartlib, to whom he bequeathed his unpublished papers. It is said he was found dead in London streets, in a state of extreme destitution, and that he was very much neglected during his whole lifetime. This statement has been contradicted, without any better account being substituted. Weston gives to his name The Jewel-house of art and nature,” which is known to have been the work of Sir Hugh Plat. Nothing has been discovered of the origin, lineage, or place of nativity of Gabriel Plattes.

XXVII.-VERMUIDEN, 1642.

Sir Cornelius Vermuiden was a Dutchman by birth, and held the post of colonel in the army of Cromwell. He wrote "A discourse touching the drayning the great fennes lying within the severall counties of Lincolne, Northampton, Huntington, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, and the Isle of Ely, as it was presented to his Majestie;" London, 4to, 1642. The work is bound singly in a thin quarto size, and occupies 32 pages. It was ordered to be printed by the Committee for the Great Level, together with the mappe, in order that exceptions may be taken (if any be), and other designs may be offered. A local knowledge of the ground was at any time requisite to understand any plan devised for draining the fens, and now, when so many alterations have been made by the subsequent operations, any reference to Vermuiden's designs would be wholly misspent labour; but at the time he wrote on the subject it seems no objections were raised against his schemes of embanking the rivers and draining the swamps.

XXVIII.-WESTON, 1646.

Sir Richard Weston, of Sutton, in Surrey, was Ambassador from the Court of James I. in 1619, to the Elector Palatine, and King of Bohemia. He wrote " A discourse of husbandrie," used in Brabant and Flanders, shewing the wonderful improvement of land there, and serving as a pattern for our practice in this commonwealth; 4to, 1645. This book is issued under the name of Hartlib, to

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whom the MS. was addressed, without the author being known. Sir Richard also wrote "Brief discoveries of ways and means for manuring and improving land," 1646.

It has ever been acknowledged that Sir Richard Weston laid the foundation of the improved agriculture of Britain. In the low countries of Brabant and Flanders he saw the clover plant, and also the turnip, both of which very much attracted his notice, and induced him to state their qualities in writing, and recommend their use to his countrymen. The genius of the British people was then rapidly bestirring itself, and sought every avenue of development. Weston's book has always been reckoned an excellent work, and shall have the due examination in the following author's life.

XXIX. HARTLIB, 1646.

Samuel Hartlib was the son of a Polish merchant, who settled at Elbing, in Prussia, where he built the first house of credit, and established the English Company there. His family was of a very ancient extraction in the German empire, there having been ten brothers of the name of Hartlib. Some of them were privy councillors to the Emperor, some to other inferior princes, some syndics of Augsberg and Norimberg. He was the issue of a third wife, his father having married two Polonian ladies of noble extraction. His third wife seems to have been an Englishwoman, for she had two sisters very honourably married here: one first to a Mr. Clarke, then to Sir Richard Smith, and a third time to Sir Edward Savage; the other sister married Mr. Peak. Warton says Hartlib came over into England about 1640. He carried on an extensive agency business, and engaged himself with literary subjects. He wrote several theological tracts, and was the esteemed associate of the talented men of his time, including Milton, who dedicated to him his "Tractate on education.” He assisted in establishing the embryo of the Royal Society. The time of his death is unknown.

Hartlib published "Discourse of husbandry used in Brabant and Flanders, showing the wonderfull improvements of land there;" London, 1645, 1650, 4to. "Legacy; or, an enlargement on the discourse of husbandry used in Brabant and Flanders," with an appendix; London, 1651, 1652, 1655, 4to. "Essay on the advancement of husbandry and learning, with propositions for erecting a college of husbandry;" London, 1651, 4to. "The reformed husbandman; or, a brief treatise of the errors, defects, and inconvenience of our English husbandry, in ploughing and sowing for corn, with the reasons and general remedies, and a large, yet faithful offer or undertaking, for the benefit of them that will join in this good and

It has been noticed that the "Discourse on Flemish husbandry," was written by Sir R, Weston, and published by Hartlib; in like manner the "Legacy" was compiled by R. Child, and other persons eminent for skill in agriculture. Hartlib himself never had any practice or connection with agriculture, but received it through the medium that was presented to him. "The husbandrie of Brabant and Flanders" occupies 27 pages of small quarto, and details the practice of those places through which Sir Richard Weston had travelled, in the use of flax, clover, and turnips; Devonshiring (paring and burning) of land is much recommended, and to sow clover and turnips upon the ground thus treated. Flax, turnips, and clover were at that time grown in England, but differed as much from the crops in Flanders as the wild plants differ from those raised in a garden. The language shows a learned author, and the germs are evident of an improved agriculture,

The "Legacy" forms an enlargement of the former work, adding the best performances of English practice on the knowledge which the author possessed, or could learn of its use. The work was only drawn up at Hartlib's request, and, passing through his correction and revision, was published by him. It consists of one general answer to the following query, namely: "What are the actual defects and omissions, as also the possible improvements, in English husbandry," The real author was Robert Child, as was before noticed, To it are annexed various correspondences from persons eminent for skill in agriculture at this time, as C, D. B. W. R. H. T, Underhill, Henry Cruttenden, W, Potter, &c, ; as also, the "Mercurius lectificans," and twenty large experiments by Gabriel Plattes; together with annotations on the "Legacy," by Dr. Arnold Beati; and replies to the animadversions, by the author of the Legacy," In the preface Hartlib greatly laments that no public director of husbandry was established in England by authority, and that we had not adopted the Flemish custom of letting farms upon improvement,

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The "Legacy" occupies 131 pages of small quarto, and treats sainfoin, lucerne, ploughs and carriages, digging, setting and hoeing, gardening, smut and mildew, orchards, fruits, vines, hemp and flax, dunging and manuring lands, the net improvement of our mead, waste lands, woods, bees, silkewormes, ignorance of the husbandry of other places, ignorance of things taken from the

the vegetation of this island, and their virtues and uses, animals, diseases of cattle and their cures, feeding and fatting of cattle, want of things neces sary for improvements, want of God's blessing ou our labours. Upwards of twenty pages are oceu. pied by letters to the author on the various subjects that are treated in the work The manures enumerated are-1, Chalke; 2. Lime; 3. Ordinary dung (excrements); 4. Marle; 5. Snaggree (shelly earth from river beds); 6. Ouse, from marsh ditches; 7. Sea-weeds; 8. Sea sand; 9. Folding of sheep; 10. Ashes of any kind, 11. Soote; 12. Pigeon's and hen's dung; 13, Mai dust; 14. Salt and brine; 15, Grassy turf and brakes; 16. Fish; 17. Urine; 18. Woollen rags; 19. Denshyving, or paring and burning lands; 20, Mixture of lands; 21. Enclosures; 22, Steep ing of graines; 23. Lupines, and ploughing greet plants into the ground.

The "Reformed husbandman," or the notice of the errors and defects of English husbandry, fille 14 pages, and is bound with the "Legacy," This essay was imparted to Hartlib by some one of his correspondents, whose name is not given, but who recommends industry as the grand forge of inventions, and the source of all rewards; and ""Tis only need

Gives life and scope to every human seed," The author urges the fallowing of lands for any crops, and to use much less seed, He also recommends that much more expenditure be made in order to procure the jewels of nature,

In the "Essay on the advancement of husbandry learning" Hartlib ascribes all misery to the nar rowness of our spirits, and that our hearts are not enlarged beyond ourselves. If the advantages that are offered were held, and made jointly serviceable, fruitful and lucriferous employments would never be wanting, and are only unfruitful because we mind not the objects of that industriousness which, without a mutual concurrence, cannot be advanced. There are infinite means of relief and comfort for all sorts of calamities, to be found in nature and well ordered societies, if men were not enviously, or covetously, or peevishly, or ambitiously, or drowsily straitened within themselves, In order to rouse the upright in heart from the laziness and drowsiness, he states "that the mother of all other trades and scientifical industries, which is the science and trade of husbandry, would be very beneficially treated in the collegiate way of teaching the art thereof; for if the least part of industry is highly improved by collegiate institutions, the chief parts, which are the root of all wealth, must be advanced to perfection by that means."

In order to promote what the author calls" the most ancient, most noble, and most necessary trade of all others," he proposes that there be bought or rented a large and convenient house, with some good quantity of land adjoining and belonging to it, and that it be done "by those whose great wealth is joined with as great virtue and love to their country, and will as well as power to advance the public good without seeking their own private benefit." He advises the money necessary to be raised by contributions, according to the wisdom and means of the donors. To those, whose good will may be large but the means are small, he offers £20 yearly for every £100 that is lent, and so for a greater or less sum proportionably; and, on notice of six months, the sum disbursed will be repaid. In order to ransom ingenuity from her too tedious captivity, and to awaken industry from a kind of lethargy, young men of 15 years of age and upwards are to be bound for 7 years as apprentices in agriculture, and in that time to be instructed faithfully in the theorick and practick parts of this (of all others) most ancient, noble, and honestly gainfull art, trade, or mystery;

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and, at the end of that time, he shall receive at one entire payment, to set up withal, £200; and at the end of every year following that payment for the period of four years he shall receive £50 more, the better to support him, till he have taken sufficient root. The sum of £20 is paid by each student on entering. The number of pupils is limited to 36.

Freemen can be entered on paying £50, who must prove themselves to be well-wishers and professors of good husbandry. It is not the newness, but the rarity or invalidity of any invention, that lays it open to the dislike of the more wise and noble persons. The author does not pretend to make bread of stones, but only to make better bread of the same wheat, and to screw the most profound mystery of good husbandry a note or two higher, and to do the same thing a better way and to more advantage.

A correspondent of Hartlib, named Coressey Dymock, sent him the plan of a farm, which might be adopted on newly-enclosed land, as fens recovered from the sea, and river overflowings, and upon common grounds, being divided into farms. The design is subjoined :

useful in introducing improvements into Scotland and Ireland. He wrote two agricultural works: I. "The English Improver; or, a new system of husbandry," in six chapters of 168 quarto pages; London, 1649. II. "The English improver improved," of 262 pages, containing the former work, with addition of six new pieces of improvement; London, 1652. The six chapters first published are-1. On floating and watering lands; 2. On draining fen and boggy lands, and regaining lands from the sea; 3. On such enclosures as prevent depopulation, and advance all interests; 4. On tillage of land kept too long in grass, and pasturing others destroyed with ploughing; 5. Discovery of all soils and composts, with their nature and use; 6. On doubling the growth of wood by new plantations. The second part contains six newer pieces of improvement-1. On the husbandry of clover and St. Foyne; 2. On lessening the charge and burthen of the plough, with divers figures thereof; 3. On planting wild wood and madder; 4. On planting hops, saffron, and liquorice; 5. On planting of rape, coleseed, hemp, and flax, and the profit thereof; 6. On the great advance of land by divers orchards and garden fruits. The work is dedicated to the Lord Protector, and to other public bodies.

The writings of Blyth contain a great deal of sound sense, and not badly expressed, on almost every branch of husbandry. His principles are very correct, and he seems to have entertained the first systematic conceptions of the benefits that would attend the alternate husbandry. He recommended the breaking up of all inferior grass lands, and shows the public loss from constant pasturage, and also the individual detriment. The wearing out of lands by too constant ploughing is much condemned, and the want stated of a renovating pasturage.

Blythe relates as a curious circumstance-"It is not many years since the famous city of London petitioned the parliament of England against two nuisances or offensive commodities which were likely to come into great use and esteem, and that was Newcastle coal in regard of the stench, and hops, as they would spoil the taste of the drink and endanger the people."

Blythe mentions the previous writers on agriculture, as Markham, Googe, Tusser, and Plattes. He knew Hartlib, but makes no particular notice of him. He says Plattes was very rationall and ingenious, and Tusser rimeth out of his experiences. No mention is made of turnips, though the plant was known before his time. He describes and figures the swing and wheel ploughs, and the double implement with two mould boards; and notices the turnwrest plough of Kent. The form

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and construction of the plough had much improved since the delineations had been given by Markham only twenty years previous, as is seen in the convexity of the mould-board and the greater length of the handles, which begin to assume the present curvature of junction with the body of the implement. These points constitute the most essential requirements of an efficient plough.

It has always been most truly stated, that the foundation of British agriculture was laid by Sir Richard Weston, Hartlib, and Blythe, by the notice and recommendation of the green fodderplants, which, along with root crops, effected a most complete revolution in the cultivation of the British soil. The change of government introduced by the Commonwealth brought forward upon the stage of life many eminent characters, who, but for that change, would not have been heard of; and, whatever opinions may be formed of that form of government in other respects, no denial can be made to its being favourable in a very high degree to the development of genius and enterprize. For the long period of upwards of one hundred years from the time we write, little or no improvement was done in the practice of agriculture, till a similar social commotion moved the stagnation of the human mind, and put into motion the wheels of action that had stood still from want of impulse and the oil of progression. Green crops in the root and fodder plants budded in Hartlib and Blythe, blossomed in Tull, and were rich in fruit in Dawson, Culley, and Brown ; and it was only from these enlightened practitioners that agriculture received the benefits of a sound practice and profitable results so slow is the progress of truth even in the grandest form of attire.

Of the birth, native country, and lineage of Walter Blithe, his social existence, married or single life, issue, or death, no memorials exist, and it does not appear that any record had been made. XXXI.-LEE, 1656.

Reverend Joseph Lee was a minister of the gospel, and seems to have been a dissenting clergy

man in Leicestershire. He wrote "A vindication of a regulated enclosure," wherein is plainly proved that the enclosures of commons are both lawful and

laudable. The essay occupies 36 octavo pages, and is forcibly written.

XXXII.-SHA, 1657.

J. Sha wrote " Certaine plaine and easie demonstrations of divers easie wayes and meanes for the improving of any manner of barren land, though the same be not worth 1s. an acre, and showing how to make the same become worth 20s., 30s., or 40s. an acre yearly." The essay occupies only 16

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