_I should be asham'd to acknowledge how little I have advanced, could
I find that ever any Mortal Man from_ Adam, Noah, Solomon, Aristotle,
Theophrastus, Dioscorides, _and the rest of Nature's Interpreters, had
ever arriv'd to the perfect Knowledge of any one_ Plant, _or_ Vulgar
Weed _whatsoever: But this perhaps may yet possibly be reserv'd for
another State of Things, and a_ [3]_longer Day; that is_, When Time
shall be no more, but Knowledge shall be encreas'd.
_We have heard of one who studied and contemplated the Nature of_
Bees _only, for_ Sixty Years: _After which, you will not wonder,
that a Person of my Acquaintance, should have spent almost_ Forty,
_in Gathering and Amassing Materials for an_ Hortulan _Design, to
so enormous an Heap, as to fill some_ Thousand Pages; _and yet be
comprehended within two, or three Acres of Ground; nay, within the
Square of less than_ One (_skilfully Planted and Cultivated) sufficient
to furnish, and entertain his Time and Thoughts all his Life long, with
a most Innocent, Agreeable, and Useful Employment. But you may justly
wonder, and Condemn the Vanity of it too, with that Reproach_, This Man
began to build, but was not able to finish! _This has been the Fate of
that Undertaking; and I dare promise, will be of whosoever imagines
(without the Circumstances of extraordinary Assistance, and no ordinary
Expence) to pursue the_ Plan, _erect, and finish the_ Fabrick _as it
ought to be_.
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