Gift IN SIX BOOKS. TO THE READER. BEING obliged, before we speak of this Translation, to give some prefatory account of the Original, it will be neceffary to refume what has been delivered on that subject by the incomparable Dr. Sprat, the prefent Bishop of Rochester, in the account he has given us of the Life and Writings of Mr Cowley. Concerning these Six Books of liants, he has thus expressed his fentiments with that fength of judgment and freedom of ingenuity which was requifite. "The occafion," fays he, "of his chufing the fub"ject of his Six Books of Plants was this; When he "returned into England, he was advised to diffemble "the main intention of his coming over, under the "disguise of applying hiar self to fuine settled profef "fion; and that of phyfick was thought moft proper. "To this purpose, after many anatomical diffections, "he proceeded to the confideration of simples; and, 66 having furnished himself with booksofthat nature, "he retired into a fruitful part of Kent,where every ** field and wood might show him the real figures of *thofe Plants of which he had read. Thus he fpeedily mastered that part of the art of medicine: but then, Volume III. A “as one of the Ancients did before him in the study "of the law, inftead of employing his fkill for prac"tice and profit, he prefently digefted it into that "form which we behold. "The two firft Books treat of Herbs, in a style re"fembling the Elegies of Ovid and Tibullus, in the "sweetness and freedom of the verse, but excelling "them in the strength of the fancy, and vigour of "the fenfe. The third and fourth difcourfe of Flowers "in all the variety of Catullus and Horace's numbers, for the last of which authors he had a peculiar re"verence, and imitated him not only in the stately "and numerous pace of his Odes and Epodes, but in "the familiar eafinefs of his Epiftles and Speeches. "The two last speak of Trees in the way of Virgil's "Georgicks: of thefe the fixth Book is wholly dedi"cated to the honour of his country: for making the "British Oak to prefide in the Affembly of the Forest"Trees, upon that occafion he enlarges on the history "of the late rebellion, the King's affliction and re"turn, and the beginning of the Dutch wars; and manages all in a flyle that (to say all in a word) is equal to the valour and greatness of the English na❝tion.". This was as much as could be expected in a tranfient and general account, and what has left but little room for a more particular effay. As the nature of the fubject has fometimes furnished our Author with great and beautiful occasions of wit and poetry, so it must be confeffed that, in the main, he has but a barren province to cultivate, where the foil was to be enriched by the improvements of art and fancy. He muft fo frequently descend to fuch minute defcriptions of Herbs and Flowers, which administer so feeble occafions for thought, and are fo unfurnished of variety, that fince the enumerations are no where tedious, but every thing made beautiful and entertaining, it must be wholly afcribed to the ability of the artift, with a materiem fuperavit opus. This wonderful performance put me on a confideration by what artifices of ingenuity he could poffibly effect it: I was fenfible that the smallest subjects were capable of fome ornament in the hands of a good poet.c In tenui labor, at tenuis non gloria, fiquem This was defignedly hinted by Virgil, when he came to his defcription of Bees, to raise the credit of his own performance; whereas those manners, politicks, and battles, with which he has adorned his poem, were for the most part true in fact, and the rest lay obvious to invention; but our Author was obliged to animate his filent tribe of Plants, to infpire them with motion and discourse, in order to lighten his defcriptions with flory: but where he is confined to the defcriptive part itself, where he is to regifter them standing mute in their beds, divefted of that ima nary life which might beautify the work, bic labor, b opus; it is there, it seems, worth our while to obferv the fagacious methods of his fancy, in finding topicks for his wit, and instances of amiable variety. He had the judgment to perceive, that where the subjects he was to treat on in their own naked nature, and, fimply confidered, could afford but slender matter, yet that many things were greater in their circumstances than they are in themselves: accordingly he has most nicely fastened upon each minute circumstance of the places where his Plants and Herbs delight to spring; the feafons of their flowering, feeding, and withering; their long or short duration; their noxious or healthful qualities; their figures and colouring; all which he has managed with fuch dexterity of fancy, and unexhaufted conceit, that each individual (as he has dreffed and fet them out) appears with a different aspect and peculiar beauty. The very agreeablenefs or difagreeableness of their names to those difpofitions wherewith Nature has endued them, are f the furprising and diverting occafion of his wit. Yet in all this liberty you find him no where di verted from his point; judgment, that is to fay, a juft regard to his fubject, every where confpicuous; being never carried too remote by the heat of his ima gination and quickness of his apprehenfion. His in vention exerts its utmost faculties, but fo conftantly frequently |