2. Panegyric at his Majesty's Coronation, 1661, folio. 3. Fumifugium, or a prophetic Invective against the Fire and Smoke of London, with its Remedies, 1661, 4to. 4. Sculptura, or the History of the Art of Chalcography, 1662, 8vo. 5. Public Employment, and an active life preferred to Solitude, 1667, 8vo. 6. History of the Three late Impostors, 1669, 8vo. 7. Kalendarium Hortense, 1664, 1676, 8vo. Six Editions. 8. Sylva [1664, 1670], 1679, folio. Three Editions. 9. Terra [1676], 1679. Two Editions [8vo.]. 10. Tyrannus, or the Mode [1661], 8vo. 11. The Dignity of Man, etc., not printed, nearly ready. 12. Elysium Britannicum, not printed, nearly ready. Prepared for the Press. A Discourse of Medals.-Of Manuscripts.-Of Stones.— Of Reason in Brute Animals.1 3 In a letter to Dr. BEALE,2 11 July, 1679, Evelyn says: "I have sometimes thought of publishing a Treatise of Acetaria, which (though but one of the chapters of Elysium Britannicum) would make a competent volume, accompanied with other necessaries, according to my manner; but whilst I as often think of performing my so long-since promised (more universal) Hortulan work, I know not how to take that chapter out, and single it for the press, without some blemish to the rest. When again I consider into what an ocean I am plunged, how much I have written and collected for above these twenty years upon this fruitful and inexhaustible subject (I mean Horticulture) not yet fully digested to my mind, and what insuperable pains it will require to insert the (daily increasing) particulars into what I have already in some measure prepared, and which must of neces 1 [The Numismata; or, a Discourse of Medals was printed in folio in 1697; the "unfinished Treatise' ""Of Manuscripts" occupies pp. 321-36 of vol. ii. of Bray's edition of the Memoirs, etc., 1819. The discourses of "Reason in Brute Animals" and "Stones" have not been printed.] There is also at Wotton a chapter of an essay, entitled, "De Baculis [Staves]," which from the proem seems to have been intended as jocular, but it begins with great gravity. 2 [John Beale, F.R.S., 1603-83, Rector of Yeovil, Somerset, and Chaplain to Charles II.] 3 [Published 1699, and dedicated to Lord Somers.] sity be done by my own hand, I am almost out of hope, that I shall ever have strength and leisure to bring it to maturity, having for the last ten years of my life been in perpetual motion, and hardly two months in the year at my own habitation, or conversant with my family. "You know what my charge and care has been during the late unhappy war with the Hollanders; and what it has cost me as to avocations, and for the procuring money, and attending the Lord Treasurer, etc., to discharge the quarters of many thousands. "Since that, I have upon me no fewer than three executorships, besides other domestic concerns, either of them enough to distract a more steady and composed genius than is mine. "Superadd to these the public confusions in church and kingdom (never to be sufficiently deplored), and which cannot but most sensibly touch every sober and honest man. "In the midst of these disturbances, who but Dr. Beale (that stands upon the tower, looks down unconcernedly on all those tempests) can think of gardens and fish-ponds, and the délices and ornaments of peace and tranquillity! With no little conflict and force on my other business, I have yet at last, and as I was able, published a third edition of my Sylva [1679], and with such additions as occurred; and this in truth only to pacify the importunity of very many besides the printer, who quite tired me with calling on me for it, and above all, threatening to reprint it with all its former defects, if I did not speedily prevent it. I am only vexed that it proving so popular as in so few years to pass so many impressions, and (as I hear) gratify the avaricious printer with some hundreds of pounds, there had not been some course taken in it for the benefit of our Society. It is apparent, that near £500 has been already gotten by it; but we are not yet economists. 3 "You know what pillars we have lost: Palmer,1 Murray,1 Chester, Oldenburg, etc.; and through what other discouragements we still labour; and therefore you will excuse the zeal and fervour of what I have added in my Epistle to the Reader, if at length it be possible to raise up some generous soul to free us, or emerge out of our difficulties. In all events you will see where my inclinations are fixed, and that love is 1 Dudley Palmer, 1602-66, and Sir Robert Murray, Knt., d. 1673, two of the first Council of the Royal Society. 2 [See ante, vol. ii. p. 76.] 3 [See ante, vol. ii. p. 192.] stronger than death; and secular affairs, which is the burial of all philosophical speculations and improvements; though they can never in the least diminish the great esteem I have of your friendship, and the infinite obligations I daily receive from your favours." Of Books which he had designed to publish, we find various Memoranda in his letters, etc. In a letter to Mr. BOYLE, 8 [9?] August, 1659, he says he had intended to write a History of Trades; but had given it up, from the great difficulty he found in the attempt. In another, 23rd Nov., 1664, he says, "One Rhea [qu. Ray?] has published a very useful book concerning the Culture of Flowers; but it does nothing reach my long-since attempted design on that entire subject, with all its ornaments and circumstances, but God only knows when my opportunities will permit me to bring it to maturity." In the Preface to the Acetaria, published in 1699, he mentions a Work in which he had spent upwards of forty years, and his collections for which had in that time filled several thousand pages. The author of the Biographia Britannica believes that this was the work, part of which he had showed to his friends under the title of Elysium Britannicum, but which in that Preface he calls "The Plan of a Royal Garden," etc.; and that his Acetaria and Gardener's Kalendar were parts of it. This is confirmed by the preceding letter to Dr. Beale. Amongst the MSS. at Wotton there are parts of two volumes with the running title of Elysium Britannicum, consisting of miscellaneous observations on a great variety of subjects, but nothing digested, except a printed sheet of the contents of the intended Work, as follows: ELYSIUM BRITANNICUM IN THREE BOOKS Præmissis præmittendis, etc. BOOK I Chap. 1. A Garden derived and defined, with its distinctions and sorts.-2. Of a Gardener, and how he is to be qualified.-3. Of the Principles and Elements in general.— 4. Of the Fire.-5. Of the Air and Winds.-6. Of the Water. -7. Of the Earth.-8. Of the Celestial Influences, particularly the Sun, and Moon, and of the Climates.-9. Of the Four Seasons.-10. Of the Mould and Soil of a Garden.11. Of Composts and Stercoration.-12. Of the Generation of Plants. BOOK II Chap. 1. Of the Instruments belonging to a Gardener, and their several uses.-2. Of the situation of a Garden, with its extent.-3. Of fencing, enclosing, plotting, and disposing the Ground.-4. Of a Seminary, and of propagating Trees, Plants, and Flowers.-5. Of Knots, Parterres, Compartments, Borders, and Embossments.-6. Of Walks, Terraces, Carpets, and Alleys, Bowling-greens, Malls, their materials and proportions.-7. Of Groves, Labyrinths, Dædales, Cabinets, Cradles, Pavilions, Galleries, Close-walks, and other Rilievos. -8. Of Transplanting.-9. Of Fountains, Cascades, Rivulets, Piscinas, and Water-works.-10. Of Rocks, Grots, Cryptas, Mounts, Precipices, Porticos, Vendiducts.-11. Of Statues, Columns, Dials, Perspectives, Pots, Vases, and other ornaments. -12. Of Artificial Echos, Music, and Hydraulic motions.-13. Of Aviaries, Apiaries, Vivaries, Insects.-14. Of Orangeries, and Conservatories of rare Plants.-15. Of Verdures, Perennial-Greens, and perpetual Springs.-16. Of Coronary Gardens, Flowers, and rare Plants, how they are to be propagated, governed, and improved; together with a Catalogue of the choicest Trees, Shrubs, Plants and Flowers, and how the Gardener is to keep his Register.-17. Of the PhilosophicoMedical Garden.-18. Of a Vineyard.-19. Of Watering, Pruning, Clipping, Rolling, Weeding, etc.-20. Of the Enemies and Infirmities to which a Garden is obnoxious, together with the remedies. 21. Of the Gardener's Almanack, or Kalendarium Hortense, directing what he is to do Monthly, and what Flowers are in prime. BOOK III Chap. 1. Of Conserving, Properating, Retarding, Multiplying, Transmuting, and altering the Species, Forms and substantial qualities of Flowers, etc.-2. Of Chaplets, Festoons, Flower-pots, Nosegays, and Posies.-3. Of the Gardener's Elaboratory, and of distilling and extracting of Essences, Resuscitation of Plants, with other rare Experiments.-4. Of Composing the Hortus Hyemalis, and making books of Natural Arid Plants and Flowers, with other curious ways of preserving them in their Natural.-5. Of planting of Flowers, Flowers enamelled in Silk, Wax, and other artificial representations of them.-6. Of Hortulan Entertainments, to show the riches, beauty, wonder, plenty, delight, and use of a Garden-Festival, etc.-7. Of the most famous Gardens in the World, Ancient and Modern.-8. The Description of a Villa. -The Corollary and Conclusion. Amongst the MSS. at Wotton also, on a separate paper, are the following Memoranda in Evelyn's handwriting:"Things I would write out fair and reform, if I had leisure : Londinum Redivivum, which I presented to the King three or four days after the Conflagration of that City, 1666. Pedigree of the Evelyns. The three remaining Meditations on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, being the remaining course of Offices; to which belongs a Book of Recollection bound in leather. A Rational Account of the True Religion, or an History of it. With a packet of Notes belonging to it. Oeconomist to a Married Friend. The Legend of the Pearl. Some Letters of mine to Electra and to others in that packet. The Life of Mrs. Godolphin. A book of Some Observations, Politica's, and Discourses of that kind. Thyrsander, a Tragi-Comedy. My own Ephemeris or Diary. Of the works by Mr. Evelyn actually published, the list now finally subjoined, comprising many which are included in Of the "things" mentioned in this list as reserved for attention and revision in Evelyn's leisure, the Diary and Letters, and Life of Mrs. Godolphin (see also p. 21 of this volume) have since been given to the world [1818 and 1847]; and the work entitled A Rational Account of the True Religion, or an History of it, edited from the MSS. at Wotton, has also been published [1850]. It embodies the researches and reflections of Evelyn's life on the subject to which it relates. |