t 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. When as in _truth_, and in _reason_, the more
_Learning_, the better _Philosophers_, and the greater _Abilities_ they
possess, the _more_, and the _better_ are they _qualified_, to
_Cultivate_, and improve their _Estates_: Methinks this is well and
rationally argued.

And now you have in part what I had to produce in extenuation of this
_Adventure_; that _Animated_ with a _Command_, and Assisted by divers
_Worthy Persons_ (whose _Names_ I am prone to _celebrate_ with all just
_Respects_) I have presumed to cast in my _Symbol_; which, with the rest
that are to follow, may (I hope) be in some degree serviceable to _him_
(who ere the happy _Person_ be) that shall oblige the _World_ with that
compleat _Systeme_ of _Agriculture_, which as yet seems a _desideratum_,
and wanting to its full perfection. It is (I assure you) what is one of
the Principal designs of the _ROYAL SOCIETY_, not in this _Particular_
only, but through all the _Liberal_ and more useful _Arts_; and for
which (in the estimation of all equal _Judges_) it will merit the
greatest of _Encouragements_; that so, at last, what the Learned
_Columella_ has wittily reproached, and complained of, as a defect in
that _Age_ of _his_, concerning _Agriculture_ in general, and is
applicable _here_, may attain its desired _Remedy_ and _Consummation_ in
_This_ of _Ours_.

_Sola enim Res Rustica, quae sine dubitatione proxima, & quasi
consanguinea Sapientiae est, tam discentibus eget, quam magistris: Adhuc
enim Scholas Rhetorum, & Geometrarum, Musicorumque, vel quod magis
mirandum est, contemptissimorum vitiorum officinas, gulosius condiendi
cibos, & luxuriosius fercula struendi, capitumque & capillorum
concinnatores, non solum esse audivi, sed & ipse vidi; Agricolationis
neque Doctores qui se profiterentur, neque Discipulos cognovi._{lxxxiii:1}
But this I leave for our _Peruk'd Gallants_ to interpret, and should now
apply my self to the _Directive_ Part, which I am all this while
bespeaking, if after what I have said in the several _Paragraphs_ of the
ensuing _Discourse_ upon the _Argument_ of _Wood_, (and which in this
_Fourth_ Edition coming _Abroad_ with innumerable _Improvements_, and
_Advantages_ (so furnished, as I hope shall neither reproach the _Author_,
or repent the _Reader_) it might not seem superfluous t