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 't is hence observed that we hardly find a Great and Wise Man among the Ancients qui nullos habuit hortos excepting only Pomponius Atticus whilst 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 shou d Your Lordship hence suspect that one could never write so much of dressing Sallets who minded any thing 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 Luxuriae 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 But My Lord whilst You read on if at least You vouchsafe me that Honor to read at all I am conscious I rob the Publick of its most Precious Moments I therefore Humbly again Implore Your Lordship's Pardon Nor indeed needed I to have said half this to kindle in Your Breast that which is already shining there Your Lordship's Esteem of the Royal Society after what You were pleas'd to Express in such an Obliging manner when it was lately to wait upon Your Lordship among whom I had the Honor to be a Witness of Your Generous and Favourable Acceptance of their Addresses who am My Lord Your Lordship 's Most Humble and Most Obedient-Servant JOHN EVELYN THE PREFACE THE Favourable Entertainment which the Kalendar has found encouraging the Bookseller to adventure upon a Ninth Impression I could not refuse his Request of my Revising and Giving it the best Improvement I was capable to an Inexhaustible Subject as it regards a Part of Horticulture and offer some little Aid to such as love a Diversion so Innocent and Laudable There are those of late who have arrogated and given the Glorious Title of Compleat and Accomplish'd Gardiners to what they have Publish'd as if there were nothing wanting nothing more remaining or farther to be expected from the Field and that Nature had been quite emptied of all her fertile Store Whilst those who thus magnifie their Discoveries have after all penetrated but a very little Way into this Vast Ample and as yet Unknown Territory Who see not that it would still require the Revolution of many Ages deep and long Experience for any Man to Emerge that Perfect and Accomplish d Artist Gardiner they boast themselves to be Nor do I think Men will ever reach the End and far extended Limits of the Vegetable Kingdom so incomprehensible is the Variety it every Day produces of the most Useful and Admirable of all the Aspectable Works of God since almost all we see and touch and taste and smell eat and drink are clad with and defended from the Greatest Prince to the Meanest Peasant is furnished from that Great and Universal Plantation Epitomiz d in our Gardens highly worth the Contemplation of the most Profound Divine and Deepest Philosopher I should be asham'd to acknowledge how little I have advanc'd could I find that ever any Mortal Man from Adam Noah Solomon Aristotle Theophrastus Dioscorides and the rest of Nature's Interpreters had ever arriv'd to the perfect Knowledge of any one Plant or Vulgar Weed whatsoever But this perhaps may yet possibly be reserv'd for another State of Things and a * Ut hujusmodi historiam vix dum incohatum non ante absolvendam putem Exitio terras quam dabit una dies D. Raius Praefat. Hist Plan. longer Day that is When Time shall be no more but Knowledge shall be encreas'd We have heard of one who studied and contemplated the Nature of Bees only for Sixty Years After which you will not wonder that a Person of my Acquaintance should have spent almost Forty in Gathering and Amassing Materials for an Hortulan Design to so enormous an Heap as to fill some Thousand Pages and yet be comprehended within two or three Acres of Ground nay within the Square of less than One skilfully Planted and Cultivated sufficient to furnish and entertain his Time and Thoughts all his Life-long with a most Innocent Agreeable and Useful Employment But you may justly wonder and Condemn the Vanity of it too with that Reproach This Man began to build Luke 15.30 but was not able to finish This has been the Fate of that Undertaking and I dare promise will be of whosoever imagines without the Circumstances of extraordinary Assistance and no ordinary Expence to pursue the Plan erect and finish the Fabrick as it ought to be But this is that which Abortives the Perfection of the
they were for that Cause the more pleasing to God This being so what may we then think of such Armies of Hermits Monks and Fryars who pretending to justifie a mistaken Zeal and meritorious Abstinence not only by a peculiar Diet and Distinction of Meats which God without Distinction has made the moderate Use of common and * 2 Tim. iv 3. indifferent amongst Christians but by other sordid Usages and unnecessary Hardships wilfully prejudice their Health and Constitution and through a singular manner of living dark and Saturnine whilst they would seem to abdicate and forsake the World in Imitation as they pretend of the Ancient Eremites take care to settle and build their warm and stately Nests in the most Populous Cities and Places of Resort ambitious doubtless of the Peoples Veneration and Opinion of an extraordinary Sanctity and therefore flying the Desarts where there is indeed no use of them and flocking to the Towns and Cities where there is less indeed none at all and therefore no Marvel that the Emperour Valentinian banished them the Cities and Constantine Copronymus finding them seditious oblig'd them to marry to leave their Cells and live as did others For of these some there are who seldom speak and therefore edifie none sleep little and lie hard are clad nastily and eat meanly and oftentimes that which is unwholsom and therefore benefit none Not because they might not both for their own and the Good of others and the Publick but because they will not Custom and a prodigious †This with their prodigious Ignorance See Mâ—b des Etudes Monast Part. 2. c. 17. Sloth accompanying it which renders it so far from Penance and the Mortification pretended that they know not how to live or spend their Time otherwise This as I have often consider'd so was I glad to find it justly perstring'd and taken notice of by a * Dr. Lister's Journey to Paris See L' Apocalyps de Meliton ou Revelation des Mysteres Cenobitiques Learned Person amongst others of his useful Remarks abroad These says he willingly renouncing the innocent Comforts of Life plainly shew it to proceed more from a chagrin and morose Humour than from any true and serious Principle of sound Religion which teaches Men to be useful in their Generations sociable and communicative unaffected and by no means singular and fantastic in Garb and Habit as are these forsooth Fathers as they affect to be call'd spending their Days in idle and fruitless Forms and tedious Repetitions and thereby thinking to merit the Reward of those Ancient and truly pious Solitaries who God knows were driven from their Countries and Repose by the Incursions of barbarous Nations whilst these have no such Cause and compell'd to Austerities not of their own chusing and making but the publick Calamity and to labour with their Hands for their own and others necessary Support as well as with their Prayers and holy Lives Examples to all the World And some of these indeed besides the Solitaries of the Thebaid who wrought for abundance of poor Christians sick and in Captivity I might bring in as such who deserv'd to have their Names preserv'd not for their rigorous Fare and uncouth Disguises but for teaching that the Grace of Temperance and other Vertues consisted in a cheerful innocent and profitable Conversation And now to recapitulate what other Prerogatives the Hortulan Provision has been celebrated for besides its Antiquity Health and Longaevity of the Antediluvians that Temperance Frugality Leisure Ease and innumerable other Vertues and Advantages which accompany it are no less attributable to it Let us hear our excellent Botanist * Plantarum usus latissimè patet in omni vitae parte occurrit sine illis lautè sine illis commodè non vivitur ac nec vivitur omninò Quaecunque ad victu necessaria sunt quaecunque ad delicias faciunt è locupletissimo suo penu abundè subministrant Quantò ex eis mensa innocentior mundior salubrior quam ex animalium caede Laniena Homo certè naturâ animal carnivorum non est nullis ad praedam rapinam armis instructum non dentibus exertis serratis non unguibus aduncis Manus ad fructos colligendos dentes ad mandendos comparati nec legimus se ante diluvium carnes ad esum concessas c. Raii Hist Plant. Lib. 1. cap. 24. Mr. Ray. The Use of Plants says he is all our Life long of that universal Importance and Concern that we can neither live nor subsist in any Plenty with Decency or Conveniency or be said to live indeed at all without them whatsoever Food is necessary to sustain us whatsoever contributes to delight and refresh us are supply'd and brought forth out of that plentiful and abundant store and ah how much more innocent sweet and healthful is a Table cover'd with these than with all the reeking Flesh of butcher'd and slaughter'd Animals Certainly Man by Nature was never made to be a Carnivorous Creature nor is he arm'd at all for Prey and Rapin with gag'd and pointed Teeth and crooked Claws sharpned to rend and tear But with gentle Hands to gather Fruit and Vegetables and with Teeth to chew and eat them Nor do we so much as read the Use of Flesh for Food was at all permitted him till after the Universal Deluge c. To this might we add that transporting Consideration becoming both our Veneration and Admiration of the infinitely wise and glorious Author of Nature who has given to Plants such astonishing Properties such fiery Heat in some to warm and cherish such Coolness in others to temper and refresh such pinguid Juice to nourish and feed the Body such quickening Acids to compel the Appetite and grateful Vehicles to court the Obedience of the Palate such Vigour to renew and support our natural Strength such ravishing Flavour and Perfumes to recreate and delight us In short such spirituous and active Force to animate and revive every Faculty and Part to all the kinds of Human and I had almost said Heavenly Capacity too What shall we add more Our Gardens present us with them all and whilst the Shambles are cover'd with Gore and Stench our Sallets scape the Insults of the Summer Fly purifies and warms the Blood against Winter Rage Nor wants there Variety in more abundance than any of the former Ages could shew Survey we their Bills of Fare and Numbers of Courses serv'd up by Athenaeus drest with all the Garnish of Nicander and other Grecian Wits What has the Roman Grand Sallet worth the naming Parat Convivium The Guests are nam'd indeed and we are told * Mart. lib. x. Epig. 44. Varias quas habet hortus opes How richly the Garden 's stor'd In quibus est Luctuca sedens tonsile porrum Nec deest ructatrix Mentha nec herba salax c. A Goodly Sallet Lettuce Leeks Mint Rocket Colewort-Tops with Oyl and Eggs and such an Hotch-Pot
ACETARIA A DISCOURSE OF SALLETS By J. E. S. R. S. Author of the Kalendarium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Crat. in Glauc LONDON Printed for B. Tooke at the Middle-Temple Gate in Fleetstreet 1699. TO THE Right Honourable JOHN Lord SOMERS OF EVESHAM Lord High-Chancellor of England and President of the Royal-Society My Lord THE Idea and Plan of the Royal-Society having been first conceiv'd and delineated by a Great and Learned Chancellor which High Office your Lordship deservedly bears not as an Acquisition of Fortune but your Intellectual Endowments Conspicuous among other Excellencies by the Inclination Your Lordship discovers to promote Natural Knowledge As it justifies the Discernment of that Assembly to pitch upon Your Lordship for their President so does it no less discover the Candor yea I presume to say the Sublimity of your Mind in so generously honoring them with your Acceptance of the Choice they have made A Chancellor Lord Viscount Brouncker Chancellor to the Late Qu. Consort now Dowager The Right Honourable Cha. Montague Esq Chancellor of the Exchequer and a very Learned Lord was the First who honoured the Chair and a no less Honorable and Learned Chancellor resigns it to Your Lordship So as after all the Difficulties and Hardships the Society has hitherto gone through it has thro' the Favour and Protection of its Presidents not only preserv'd its Reputation from the Malevolence of Enemies and Detractors but gone on Culminating and now Triumphantly in Your Lordship Under whose propitious Influence I am perswaded it may promise it self That which indeed has hitherto been wanting to justifie the Glorious Title it bears of a ROYAL SOCIETY The Emancipating it from some Remaining and Discouraging Circumstances which it as yet labours under among which that of a Precarious and unsteady Abode is not the least This Honor was reserv'd for Your Lordship and an Honor permit me to call it not at all unworthy the Owning of the Greatest Person living Namely the Establishing and Promoting Real Knowledge and next to what is Divine truly so called as far at least as Humane Nature extends towards the Knowledge of Nature by enlarging her Empire beyond the Land of Spectres Forms Intentional Species Vacuum Occult Qualities and other Inadaequate Notions which by their Obstreperous and Noisy Disputes affrighting and till of late deterring Men from adventuring on further Discoveries confin'd them in a lazy Acquiescence and to be fed with Fantasms and fruitless Speculations which signifie nothing to the specifick Nature of Things solid and useful Knowledge by the Investigation of Causes Principles Energies Powers and Effects of Bodies and Things Visible and to improve them for the Good and Benefit of Mankind My Lord That which the Royal Society needs to accomplish an entire Freedom and by rendring their Circumstances more easie capable to subsist with Honor and to reach indeed the Glorious Ends of its Institution is an Establishment in a more Settl'd Appropriate and Commodious Place having hitherto like the Tabernacle in the Wilderness been only Ambulatory for almost Forty-Years But Solomon built the First Temple and what forbids us to hope that as Great a Prince may build Solomon's House as that Great Chancellor one of Your Lordship's Learned Predecessors had design'd the Plan Verulamii Atlantis there being nothing in that August and Noble Model impossible or beyond the Power of Nauare and Learned Industry 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 wholesome 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 consistent the Diversions of the Garden and Villa were with the highest and busiest Employment of the Common-wealth 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 * Si quid temporis à civilibus negotiis quibus totum jam intenderat animum suffurari potuit colendis agris priscos illos Romanos Numam Pompilium Cincinnatum Catonem Fabios Cicerones aliosque virtute claros viros imitare qui in magno honore constituti vites putare stercorare agros irrigare nequaquam turpe inhonestum putarunt In Vit. Plin. 2. Example made good what