And
'tis hence observed, that we hardly find a Great and Wise Man among
the Ancients, _qui nullos habuit hortos_, excepting only _Pomponius
Atticus_; wilst his Dear _Cicero_ professes, that he never laid out his
Money more readily, than in the purchasing of _Gardens_, and those sweet
Retirements, for which he so often left the _Rostra_ (and Court of the
Greatest and most flourishing State of the World) to visit, prune, and
water them with his own Hands.
But, _My Lord_, I forget with whom I am talking thus; and a _Gardiner_
ought not to be so bold. The present I humbly make your Lordship, is
indeed but a _Sallet_ of _Crude Herbs_: But there is among them that
which was a _Prize_ at the _Isthmian Games_; and Your Lordship knows
who it was both accepted, and rewarded as despicable an Oblation of
this kind. The Favor I humbly beg, is Your Lordship's Pardon for this
Presumption. The Subject is _mean_, and requires it, and my _Reputation_
in danger; should Your Lordship hence suspect that one could never write
so much of _dressing Sallets_, who minded anything serious, besides the
gratifying a Sensual Appetite with a Voluptuary _Apician_ Art.
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