minds a regret that the perfection of art had been employed in a purpose so little to the benefit of society, would call forth emotions of the most gratifying and exalting description in beholding art directed to its legitimate end—the amelioration of the condition of man, and the victory of science over nature! Amongst the Ancients, Agriculture was held in high estimation; and the noblest Poets did not consider rural and pastoral affairs beneath the dignity of the Muse. The Elusinian mysteries, the most sacred and solemn of Pagan religious festivals, were celebrated in honour of Ceres, the goddess of corn and harvests, who was supposed to have instructed Triptolemus, king of Attica, in the Art of Agriculture. The Cerealia, or Ludi Cerealis, which corresponded with the Thesmophoria of the Greeks, were held annually at Rome, in the month of April; as were also the Isia, in honour of the Egyptian. goddess, Isis. They lasted nine days; and those who participated in the ceremonies, carried about vessels filled with wheat and barley, as to Isis was attributed the having imparted to mankind a knowledge of the value and mode of cultivating those grains: and although, in consequence of the licentious conduct of the people they were abolished by the Senate A.U.C. 696, they were introduced anew, by the Emperor Commodus. Triptolemus, of whom I have just made mention, promulgated several laws, to regulate and promote Agriculture; they are enumerated by Porphyrius and Hieronymus, one of them displaying the humane character of the Legislator impressively declares "Hurt no living animal." In the politics of Aristotle, several of the laws of Solon relating to property and rural affairs are preserved; by one of them "Men are not to be permitted to purchase as much land as they desire, lest they become too great and powerful." Another "forbids the slaughter of oxen, which labour at the plough, or of lambs, within two years of age." This was to encourage the propagation of those animals; and for their protection, "a reward of five drachmas was offered for the head of a wolf." By a law, ascribed to Pisistratus, any man is permitted to bring a criminal accusation against another for idleness; which shows the antiquity of the Vagrant Act: and by another, an action of Libel or Slander might be brought against any person who disparaged or ridiculed any man or woman for being of a trade. From a Drama of Aristophanes, "The Frogs," it appears that great encouragement was given at Athens to industrious artizans ; for it is mentioned that "He who by his profession or calling gets best repute, and is reckoned most ingenious in his trade, shall have his diet in the Prytaneum, and be honoured with the highest seat.” To protect the Agricultural interest, a corn law, alluded to by Demosthenes forbid the sending of money out of the country to buy corn, unless the introduction of it were permitted by a Decree of the people; and the illegal importation of corn subjected the offender to a trial before the officers of the Custom House,--the process being similar to what is styled in our legal phraseology, a "qui tam " action, as the informer claimed half the corn. Olives were exported; but it was forbidden, except to the Victors at the Panathenean games, to send all other fruits out of Attica; and the term Sycophant, which, in the English language, bears a very different meaning, signified in the original, one who informed against those who exported figs.† Hesiod, who flourished about B.C. 1000, the most ancient Greek author, whose writings are now extant, has afforded in his "Works and Days," written about the age of King Solomon, instructions to the husbandman, shepherd, and herdsman, and also rules for the management of the vine and the olive, illustrating them with rural descriptions, and concluding with various religious precepts. The divine Homer himself has frequently introduced into his Epics familiar representations connected with pastoral and agrieultural life, (some indeed of a very homely nature) and in particular when describing the armour fabricated by Vulcan for Achilles, he has taken occasion to mention, as delineated on the shield, the several operations of husbandry in succession-ploughing, sowing, reaping, the vintage, and tending the flocks and herds. at large in the pasturage. In the early ages of the Roman Republic, the Senators, and those who filled the highest offices in the State, on leaving Rome, laid aside the dignity which accompanied their elevated station, and applied themselves to the cultivation of their farms, actually assisting their servants in performing the ordinary duties of husbandmen. And we are all familiar with the name of Cincinnatus, Dentatus, Fabricius, and Regulus, men taken from the humblest rural labors, on their little farms, of from four to seven acres, to lead armies, assume the office of Dictator, make war, conclude treaties, and tranquilise the disturbances created by turbulent and seditious citizens. In the foremost rank the of Roman authors, we find Virgil, who, in his four books of Georgics, has entered very minutely. into matters connected with Agriculture; and while he charms the ear with the melody of his numbers, and delights the mind with the richness of his poetic imagery, he enumerates the most usual indications of a fruitful and productive soil and the reverse; the crops best adapted to each, with the treatment of them,— points out the appropriate season for the different rural tasks; and lays down rules, some of which as applicable to the climate of Italy, have not since been improved on. That the Art of Agriculture was held in high estimation by the Romans is evident, from the number of writers on the suhject; among them were Cato, Varro, Cicero, Columella, Virgil I have already named, Palladius and Pliny, men distinguished for eloquence and learning; and we are told that the works of Mago, a Carthaginian writer on Agriculture (who produced a Treatise, in 28 books), were preserved by Scipio at the taking of Carthage, and by him presented to the Roman Senate, by whose orders they were translated into Latin, by Silanus, and several other persons skilled in the Punic language; (as they had been previously translated into Greek, by Cassius Dionysius of Attica) and it is said that the Romans consulted them with greater avidity than they did the Sibylline Verses.* * The history of the Sibylline Books is known; their loss when the Capitol was burned, in the time of Sylla, is also known. They were replaced by Sibylline Verses, collected from various Temples in Greece, which commanded infinite respect until destroyed by Stilicho, about a. d. 390. This act of barbarism is commemorated in the spirited lines of Rutilius, the poet of Gaul. Quo magis est facinus diri Stilichonis acerbum, Proditor arcani qui fuit imperii. Romano generi dum nititur esse superstes, Dumque timet, quic quid se fecerat ipse timeri, Visceribus nudis armatum condidit hostem, Ipsa satellitibus pellitis Roma patebat, Niseum crinem flere putantur aves : At Stilicho Eterni fatalia pignora regni . B3 But another circumstance indicates this, and is in itself not a little amusing, which is, that several of the most illustrious families which Rome produced, derived their names from the founders of them having applied themselves to the breeding and increase of different kinds of animals, or from there having introduced into Italy or cultivated with success various plants and vegetables. Thus, *Plutarch informs us that the Suilii, the Bubulci, the Caprarii, and the Porcii earned their names, either from the peculiar skill with which they managed the Sow, the Ox, the Goat, and the Pig, or from the numbers of them they possessed: Other authors inform us that the Pisones were so called from Pisum a pea, the Fabii from Faba a bean, the Lentuli from Lens, a lentil introduced from Egypt.t Cincinnatus received the name of Serranus, because the Ambassadors found him employed in sowing his land when they brought him the intelligence of his having been invested by the Senate with the office of Dictator. Cicero, the renowned orator, received the cognomen from Cicer a vetch, as some say, from the successful culture by him of that plant, though others affirm it was from his having a wart like a vetch upon his chin, as the 8th Ptolomy of Egypt was called Lathyrus from a wart, resembling the seed of the Lathyrus, a kind of Egyptian pulse, upon his nose. Agricola, a name made celebrated by the biography of Tacitus, means a husbandman. And even the derivation of words signifying riches is expressive of the fact that the first ideas of wealth were deduced from the abundance of pastoral and agricultural possessions. Thus "locuples" rich, comes from "loci" vel. "agri plenus" "pecuniosus" from "pecorum copia," "pecunia" from "pecus," the coin being originally stamped with the impression of a sheep. It may be incidentally remarked, that it was contrary to the Omnia Tartarei cessent tormenta Neronis, Lines which outweigh all the adulation of Claudian. *Life of Publicola. Accipe Niliacam Pelusia munera LENTEM Vilior est alica carior illa faba. Mart. Xenia 5. Omnes enim Veterum divitiæ in animalibus consistebant. Roman laws for a private person to cause his name or figure to be inscribed on any public monument, or on the coin of the Commonwealth,-so Cicero, when Ædile ordered that instead of his name in full, the words Marcus Tullius, with the representation of a vetch should be placed on a public building, erected during the time he held office; as Julius Cæsar, in the same spirit, directed that the figure of an elephant should be placed on the reverse of the public money, which he artificially contrived as the word Cæsar, signifies an elephant in the Punic tongue. A similar evasion is related of the two Grecian Architects, Batrachus and Saurus, who erected a temple gratuitously, with the hope of being permitted to enjoy the honor of perpetuating their names by having them inscribed upon the building. This privilege being denied to them, they attached to several parts of the work, the figures of a frog and a lizard; the words BATRAKOS and SAURA, signifying those reptiles, corresponded in an equivocal manner with the names of the designers. It is also supposed that a similar object was in the view of the sculptor, who made the Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelian in which the forelock of the horse represented at a distance the shape of an owl, the bird sacred to Minerva and the tutelary Divinity of Athens, to indicate that the artist was an Athenian. In the early ages of the commonwealth, the relations of landlord and tenant were not understood; but as wealth increased, opulent proprietors let a portion of their land to tenants; and the first leases were granted for a Lustrum, or period of five years. While the laws restricted the possession of land, and while the citizens themselves cultivated their own farms, the Republic could boast of and command a race of brave and hardy warriors; but when her military operations were conducted on the grand scale which required several armies in the field at once, in different countries, Rome was forced to delegate the duties of husbandmen to slaves, and to depend for a supply both of provision and men upon the provinces of Sicily, Spain, Gaul, Africa, and Egypt. As the fortunate termination of successive wars annexed different foreign countries to the Republic, those lovers of Agriculture, immediately on the discovery of any useful trees, plants, or vegetables, took steps to introduce them to Italy, and to propogate them with due attention; and as they found them by degrees acclimatized, and rendered sufficiently hardy to bear the higher latitudes, they generously distributed them amongst the northern provinces. It is thus that most of the flowers, herbs, and fruits now common in Great Britain are primarily of foreign extraction; their origin is, in many instances, betrayed by their |