e of Mary, and Elizabeth; and, as Mr. Warton observes, his
work "is valuable as a genuine picture of the agriculture, the rural
arts, and the domestic oeconomy and customs of our industrious
ancestors."

Walter Blith says of him:--"As for Master Tusser, who rimeth out of his
experience, if thou delightest therein, thou mayst find things worthy
thy observation."

Sir John Hawkins, in his History of Music, thus writes:--"The life of
this poor man was a series of misfortunes; and is a proof of the truth
of that saying in Holy Scripture, that 'the battle is not to the strong,
nor the race to the swift.' As to the Points of Husbandry, it is written
in familiar verse, and abounds with many curious particulars, that
bespeak the manners, the customs, and the modes of living in the
country, from the year 1520 to about half a century after; besides
which, it discovers such a degree of oeconomical wisdom in the author,
such a sedulous attention to the honest arts of thriving, such a general
love of mankind, such a regard to justice, and a reverence for religion,
that we do not only lament his misfortunes, but wonder at them; and are
at a loss to account for his dying poor, who understood so well the
method to become rich."

From the "Literary Life and Select Works of Benjamin Stillingfleet," I
select a small part of what that worthy man says of Tusser:--"He seems
to have been a good-natured cheerful man, and though a lover of
oeconomy, far from meanness, as appears in many of his precepts,
wherein he shews his disapprobation of that pitiful spirit, which makes
farmers starve their cattle, their land, and every thing belonging to
them; chusing rather to lose a pound than spend a shilling. Upon the
whole, his book displays all the qualities of a well-disposed man, as
well as of an able farmer. He wrote in the infancy of farming, and
therefore I shall give a full account of his practice, especially as his
precepts will be comprised in a narrow compass, and as a sort of justice
done to him as an original writer."

Mr. Mavor observes, "The precepts of Tusser indeed are so excellent,
that few can read them without profit and improvement; he appears to
have possessed such a degree of pious resignation to the will of the
Supreme, of christian charity, and of good humour, under all his
miscarriages, that his character rises high in our esteem, independent
of his merits as a writer. The cultivated and liberal mind of Tusser
seems to ha