each sort, and to cultivate, propagate, defend them from Accidents,
and bring them to Maturity: That also was skill'd in the nature of
_Cattel_, their Food, Diseases, Remedies, &c. which those who amongst us
pass for the most learned and accomplish'd _Gentlemen_, and _Scholars_,
are, for the most part, grosly ignorant of, look upon as _base_,
_rustick_, and things below them: is (in this learned Author's Opinion)
infinitely more to be valued, than a Man brought up either in wrangling
at the _Bar_; or the noisie, and ridiculous Disputes of our _Schools_,
&c. To this Sense the learn'd _Modena_. 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_,
whils