Add MS 78342

EVELYN PAPERS. Vol. CLXXV. `Elysium Britannicum, or The Royal Gardens in Three Books' (f. 8), a comprehensive work on horticulture; in a later published extract from the work, Acetaria: a Discourse of Sallets, Evelyn added the sub-title, `Describing and Shewing the Amplitude, and Extent of that part of Georgicks, which belongs to Horticulture'; [early 1660s, with additions to early 18th cent.]. Beginning as an autograph fair copy, with many alterations and additions, in the form of interlineations, marginalia and inserted slips of paper, most in Evelyn's hand but a few by others; for example the long insertion, ff. 276-279v, is in the hand of Sir Thomas Hanmer. Also including many pen and ink drawings of various sizes by Evelyn. Preceded (ff. i-ii) by a letter of 20 Jan. 1659[/60] to `Dr [Gaspar?] Ne[e]dham' from several Oxford botanists, forwarded to Evelyn, commenting on his project, (f. 1) a copy of a printed prospectus or table of contents to the whole work, with MS. additions by Evelyn (for which see further below), and (ff. 2-3) a chapter by chapter key to the notes intended for insertion into this volume collected in the immediately following volume (Add. MS 78343 below).

The work which became the `Elysium Britannicum' was first mentioned by Evelyn in the dedicatory epistle to his translation of Nicolas de Bonnefons' Le jardinier françois, published in December 1658, although he states there that the design had been conceived `long since'. In 1659 the first version of the prospectus or table of contents of the work was circulated amongst Samuel Hartlib's circle and various responses were received, including one from John Beale, who suggested the addition of `6 or 7 chapters more', including one on `the riches, beauty, wonders, plenty, & delight of a Garden festivall', another on the `transmutation of flowers' and another on `Mounts, Prospects Precipices and Caves'. No copy of this first prospectus appears to survive, but `to avoyde the infinite copying of some of my curious friends', Evelyn had another printed, this time with Beale's suggested additions incorporated, some of them almost verbatim. There is a copy of this second version in Add. MS 15950, f. 143. The work itself was evidently considerably advanced at this stage, but does not appear to have reached the form of the present manuscript; Evelyn wrote to Sir Thomas Browne on 20 Jan. 1660, `Though I have drawne it in rude sheets, almost every chapter rudely, yet I cannot say to have finished anything tollerably, farther than chapter XI. lib 2, and those which are so compleated are yet so written that I can at pleasure inserte whatsoever shall come to hand to obelize [sic], correct, improve, and adorne it'. Yet another version of the prospectus was produced after this, including the intended chapter referred to in the letter to Browne, on `stupendious and wonderful plants'. There is a copy of this version bound as a table of contents into the front of the present manuscript (f. 1), with further changes marked on it in manuscript by Evelyn, including a series of continuous chapter numbers in roman numerals (I-XLVII), in addition to the separate printed arabic sequences for each of the three `books'. He continued to work on the project for several more years and it was announced for publication in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in Nov. 1669, though he became increasingly aware that it would be beyond his resources to complete it. For documentation of the various stages of the project, see F. Harris, `The Manuscripts of John Evelyn's "Elysium Britannicum"', Garden History (Winter, 1997), pp. 131-132.

The pagination added by Evelyn to the prospectus at f. 1 of the present manuscript as a table of contents, indicates that it originally ran to about 900 pages, possibly more than 1000. But of these, some pages between pp. 25 and 37 of the chapter `Of the Mould and Soile of a Garden', from Book I, and everything after p. 342, that is from chapter 19 Book II onwards, is now missing. Some of this material was probably removed for piecemeal publication and to that extent the content is not lost. The missing pages of Book I were probably incorporated into Evelyn's Philosophical Discourse of Earth, delivered to the Royal Society in 1675 and published the following year. Part of Book II, chapter 19, `Of the Ortyard, and what Fruit-Trees, Olitory, and Esculent Plants may be admitted into a Garden of Pleasure' may have drawn on The French Gardiner, which Evelyn translated in 1658, and `Of Sallets' was published in Acetaria in 1699. The section of Book II, chapter 20 on wine-making is probably to be identified with the `Directions concerning Making and Ordering of Wines', which Evelyn added to The English Vineyard Vindicated, published on behalf of John Rose in 1666; and the `Kalendarium Hortense', which formed the 23rd and last chapter of Book II, was published in 1664 as an appendix to Sylva. Book II, chapter 7, `Of Groves, Labyrinths, Daedales, Cabinets, Cradles, Pavilions, Galleries, Close-Walkes and other Relievos', has a note against it in the table of contents (f. 1), `part of this is printed [in] Sylva', although the chapter itself is still present in manuscript. The reasons for the total loss of Book III can only be conjectured, since no part of it was ever published. But it is likely that much of the content of one of the longest chapters of Book III, that on `The Gardiners Elaboratory, and of distilling, and extracting of Waters, Spirits, Essences, Salts, Resuscitation of Plants, with other rare Experiments, and an account of their Vertues', was derived from another of Evelyn's projects of the early 1660s. In Paris in 1645 and 1651 he had attended the chemistry lectures of Annibal Barlet and Nicolas Le Fèvre, and when the latter were published in 1660, he undertook a translation of them, the first portion of which survives in his archive as Add. MS 78345. Le Fèvre's work included instructions for carrying out particular processes, many of them involving plants. It is at this point that the manuscript of Evelyn's translation becomes fragmentary. As he was also working intensively on the `Elysium' at the time, it seems likely that he decided to incorporate this part of his translation of Le Fevre into it, though neither now survives. His notes of Barlet's lectures (Add. MS 78335) also have the operations concerning vegetable processes crossed through, suggesting that he may have transcribed these into the `Elysium Britannicum' as well.

Acetaria: a Discourse of Sallets, published in 1699, was prefaced by a last version of the prospectus. This incorporated the changes noted in manuscript in f. 1 and included a new chapter on `garden burial'. In the preface Evelyn explained why `a person of my acquaintance, should have spent almost forty years, in gathering and amassing materials for a hortulan design, to so enormous a heap, as to fill some thousand pages' and yet never be able to bring it to completion: `this is that which abortives the perfection of the most glorious and useful undertakings; the unsatiable coveting to exhaust all that should or can be said upon every head . . . There ought to be as many hands, and subsidiaries to such a design (and those masters too) as there are distinct parts of the whole … that those who have the means and courage, may (tho' they do not undertake the whole) finish a part at least, and in time unite their labours into one intire, compleat, and consummate work indeed'.

The present manuscript has been published as Elysium Britannicum or The Royal Gardens, ed. John Ingram (Philadelphia: University pf Pennsylvania Press, 2001); see also the essay collection John Evelyn’s `Elysium Britannicum’ and European Gardening, eds. Therese O’Malley and Joachim Wolschke-Bulmahn (Washington, D.C., 1998).

ff. 338. Incomplete; lacking everything after Book II, chapter 18, `Of Wonderful and studendious Plants' (p. 342 in Evelyn's numeration). Paper size: 310 x 200mm.

Contents (including headings of missing chapters, as given in the table of contents):

1. Book I:

Ch. 1: `The Garden deriv'd and defined, with its distinctions & sortes'. ff. 8-10.

Ch. 2: `Of a Gardiner, and how he is to be qualified'. ff. 10-13.

Ch. 3: `Of the Principles and Elements in generall'. ff. 13v-17v.

Ch. 4: `Of the Fire'. ff. 17v-18.

Ch. 5: `Of the Aire and Winds'. ff. 18v-23.

Ch. 6: `Of the Water'. ff. 23-27.

Ch. 7: `Of the Earth'. ff. 28-30.

Ch. 8: `Of the Celestiall influences; particularly, the sun, and Moon'. ff. 29v-34.

Ch. 9: `Of the fower Seasons'. ff. 34-37.

Ch. 10: `Of the Mould and soile of a Garden'. ff. 37-51.

Ch. 11-12, `Of Composts, and Stercoration', and `Of the Generation of Plants' (pages 24-36 according to the numeration in Evelyn’s table of contents) are missing, although slips of paper containing passages for insertion in these chapters are present, and three extensive additions to pp. 24 and 25 are in Add. MS 78344 below. These chapters were probably used for The Philosophical Discourse of Earth (1675).

2. Book II:

Ch. 1. `Of the Instruments belonging to a Gardiner, and their various uses'. ff. 51-58.

Ch. 2. `Of the Situation of a Garden, with its Extente'. ff. 58v-59v.

Ch. 3. `Of Fencing, Enclosing, plotting and disposing the ground'. ff. 59v-63.

Ch. 4. `Of a Seminary, and of propagating Trees Plants, and Flowers'. ff. 63-80v.

Ch. 5. `Of knotts, Parterrs, Compartiments, Bordures, and Embossements'. ff. 80v-85.

Ch. 6. `Of Walkes, Terraces, Carpets and Allées, Bowling Greenes, Bares, Maills, their materialls and proportions'. ff. 85-93.

Ch. 7. `Of Groves, Labyrinths, Daedales, Cabinets, Cradles, Pavilions, Galleries, Close-Walkes and other Relievos'. ff. 93-107.

Ch. 8. `Of Transplanting'. ff. 107-113.

Ch. 9. `Of Fountaines, Cascad's, Rivulets, Canales, Piscina's, and Water-workes'. ff. 114-137.

Ch. 10. `Of Rocks, Grots, Crypta's, Mounts, Precipes, Porticos, Ventiducts'. ff. 138-154v.

Ch. 11. `Of Statues, Payntings, Columns, Dyals, Perspectives, Pots, Vrnes, Jarrs, Vasa's and other Ornaments'. ff. 155-172.

Ch. 12. `Of artificial Echo's, Musick, & Hydraulick motions'. ff. 172v-190.

Ch. 13. `Of Aviaries, Apiaries, Vivaries, Insects &c'. ff. 190-239.

Ch. 14. `Of Verdures, Perennial-greenes, and perpetuall Springs'. ff. 239v-242.

Ch. 15. `Of Orangeries, Oporothecas, and Conservatories of rare Plants & Fruites with the manner of raising them'. ff. 243-259.

Ch. 16. `Of Coronary Gardens, Flowers, & rare Plants, how they are to be propagated, governed, and improved; together with a Catalogue of the Choysest shrubs, Plants, and Flowers ... and how a Gardiner is to keepe his Register'. ff. 259v-324v.

Ch. 17. `Of the Philosophico-Medicall Garden'. ff. 325-331v.

Ch. 18. `Of Wonderfull and Stupendious Plants'. ff. 332-338v.

Ch. 19. `Of the Ortyard, and what Fruit-Trees, Olitory, and Esculent Plants may be admitted into a Garden of Pleasure'. Missing; pp. 352-380 according to the table of contents.

Ch. 20. `Of Sallets' inserted in MS in the table of contents, with subsequent chapter numbers changed to accommodate this; missing.

Ch. 21. `Of a Vinyard, and directions about making Wine'. Missing; pp. 380-395 according to the table of contents.

Ch. 22. `Of Watering, Pruning, Plashing, Nailing, Clipping, Mowing, and Rolling'. Missing; pp. 395-405 according to the table of contents.

Ch. 23. `Of the Enemies and Infirmities to which a garden is obnoxious, together with the Remedies'. Missing; pp. 405-418 according to the table of contents.

Ch. 24. `Of the Gardiners Almanack, or Calendarium Hortense, directing what he is to do monthly, and what Fruits and Flowers are in Prime'. Missing; pp. 418-432 according to the table of contents. With the printed marginal note,` This is already published [in Sylva] …’

3. Book III: all chapters missing; chapter headings and page references taken from the table of contents; several of latter are now illegible as a result of paper damage on the right hand lower margin.

Ch. 1. `Of Conserving, Properating [sic], Retarding, Multiplying, Transmuting and altering the Species, Forms, and substantial qualities of Plants and Flowers'. Missing; pp. 433-559 according to the table of contents.

Ch. 2. `Of the Gardiners Elaboratory, and of distilling extracting of Waters, Spirits ... with other rare Experiments, and an account of their Vertues'. Missing; pp. 559-[6?]62] according to the table of contents.

Ch. 3. `Of Composing the Hortus Hyemalis, and making Books of Natural, Arid Plants, and Flowers ...'. Missing; pp 62[-]-[---], according to table of contents.

Ch. 4. `Of Painting of Flowers ... with other artificials representations of them'. Missing; pp. [-----] (pagination missing from table of contents)..

Ch. 5. `Of Crowns, Chaplets, Garlands ... and other Flowry Pomps'. Missing; pp. [---]-[---] (pagination missing from the table of contents).

Ch. 6. `Of the Hortulan Laws'. Missing; pp. 643-649 according to the table of contents.

Ch. 7. `Of the Hortulan study and of a Library assistant to it'. Missng; pp. 649-65[-] according to the table of contents.

Ch. 8. `Of Hortulan Entertainments ...'. Missing; pp. 65[-]-727 according to the table of contents.

Ch. 9. `Of the most famous Gardens in the World, Ancient and Modern'. Missing; pp. 727-807 according to the table of contents.

Ch. 10. `The Description of a Villa'. Missing; pp. 807-[--] according to the table of contents.

`The Corollary and Conclusion’.