Introduction

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Acknowledgments xi
4. Introduction 1
5. PART I Natural Philosophy and Natural Knowledge
6. Hebrew Bible, Genesis 1 9
7. Aristotle, Physics 15
8. Lucretius, De rerum natura, or On the Nature of Things 20
9. Pliny the Elder, Naturalis historia, or Natural History, On the Nature of the Earth 24
10. Avicenna, The Canon of Medicine, On the Elements 26
11. Hildegard of Bingen, Causae et curae, or Causes and Cures 28
12. Alain de Lille, De planctu naturae, or The Complaint of Nature 30
13. Roger Bacon, Opus majus, or Greater Work 34
14. Saint Thomas Aquinas, Quaestiones disputatae de potentia dei, or Disputed Questions on the Power of God 37
15. Pseudo- Albertus Magnus, The Book of the Secrets of Albertus Magnus 38
16. Giambattista della Porta, Magia naturalis, or Natural Magic 43
17. Guillaume du Bartas, La sepmaine ou creation du monde, or Divine Weeks and Works, On the Seventh Day 48
18. Hugh Platt, Floraes Paradise 52
19. Francis Bacon, Novum organum, or New Organon, and New Atlantis 54
20. Hannah Wolley, The Ladies Directory 60
21. Margaret Cavendish, The Blazing World 61
22. Thomas Sprat, History of the Royal Society 65
23. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, “First Dream” 66
24. PART II Plants
25. Theophrastus, De causis plantarum, or On the Causes of Plants 73
26. Aristotle, De anima, or Of the Soul 77
27. Dioscorides, De materia medica, or Herbal 78
28. Pliny the Elder, Naturalis historia, or Natural History, On Flowers 82
29. Pseudo- Apuleius, The Old En glish Herbarium 84
30. Geoffrey Chaucer, The Legend of Good Women 86
31. Pierre de Ronsard, “Ode to Cassandra” 88
32. Leonhart Fuchs, De historia stirpium, or On the History of Plants 89
33. William Turner, A New Herbal 92
34. John Gerard, The Herbal or General History of Plants 95
35. Guillaume du Bartas, La sepmaine ou creation du monde, or Divine Weeks and Works, On Aconite 100
36. William Lawson, A New Orchard and Garden, On the Cultivation of Trees 102
37. John Parkinson, Paradisi in Sole: Paradisus Terrestris, On Auriculas 103
38. George Herbert, “The Flower” 109
39. Ralph Austen, A Treatise of Fruit Trees, and The Spiritual Use of an Orchard or Garden of Fruit Trees 111
40. Johanna St. John, Manuscript Recipes 113
41. Samuel Gilbert, Florist’s Vade- Mecum, On Auriculas 113
42. PART III Animals
43. Aristotle, Historia animalium, or The History of Animals 117
44. Pliny the Elder, Naturalis historia, or Natural History, On Animals 123
45. Physiologus 125
46. Bartholomaeus Anglicus, De proprietatibus rerum, or On the Properties of Things 127
47. Second- Family Bestiary 130
48. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 131
49. Geoffrey Chaucer, The Parliament of Fowls 135
50. Marie de France, Fables 139
51. John Lydgate, “The Debate of the Horse, Goose, and Sheep” 140
52. Anselm Turmeda, The Disputation of the Donkey 142
53. Michel de Montaigne, “An Apology for Raymond Sebond” 146
54. John Caius, Of English Dogges 149
55. Thomas Johnson, Cornucopiae 151
56. Edward Topsell, The History of Four- Footed Beasts 153
57. Gervase Markham, Markham’s Masterpiece 157
58. Hester Pulter, “The Ugly Spider” 160
59. Richard Lovelace, “The Snail” 162
60. Margaret Cavendish, Grounds of Natu ral Philosophy 165
61. Robert Hooke, Micrographia 166
62. PART IV Weather, Climate, and Season
63. Hippocrates, Airs, Waters, Places 171
64. Aristotle, Meteorologica, or Meteorology 175
65. Virgil, Georgics, Book 1, On the Storm 177
66. Pseudo- Aristotle, Secreta secretorum, or The Secret of Secrets 180
67. Avicenna, The Canon of Medicine, On Climate 182
68. Wandalbert of Prüm, On the Names, Signs, Times of Planting, and Qualities of Weather of the Twelve Months 183
69. William Ram, Rams Little Dodoen 186
70. Thomas Tusser, An Hundredth Pointes of Good Husbandrie 189
71. William Shakespeare, King Lear 192
72. Amelia Lanyer, “The Description of Cookham” 195
73. William Shakespeare, The Tempest 201
74. Thomas Jackson, The Raging Tempest Stilled 204
75. Thomas Sprat and Robert Hooke, History of the Royal Society, On Weather 206
76. Samuel Gilbert, Florist’s Vade- Mecum, Instructions for July 208
77. PART V Inhabiting the Land
78. Theocritus, Idyll 7 211
79. Virgil, Eclogue 1 216
80. Virgil, Georgics, On Farming 220
81. Columella, Res rustica, or On Agriculture, On Farming 224
82. Walter of Henley, Dite de hosbondrie, or Boke of Husbandrye 226
83. William Langland, Piers Plowman 228
84. Second Shepherd’s Play, from the Wakefield Mystery Plays 232
85. Jacopo Sannazaro, Arcadia 234
86. Thomas More, Utopia 236
87. Thomas Tusser, Five Hundredth Pointes of Good Husbandrie 238
88. William Harrison, Description of England 239
89. Edmund Spenser, The Shephearde’s Calendar 241
90. Gervase Markham, The English Husbandman, On Farming 245
91. Ben Jonson, “To Penshurst” 247
92. Mary Wroth, Urania 251
93. Robert Herrick, “The Hock- Cart, or Harvest Home” 253
94. Walter Blith, The English Improver Improved 255
95. PART VI Gardens and Gardening
96. Columella, Res rustica, or On Agriculture, On Gardens 259
97. Piero de’ Crescenzi, Liber ruralium commodorum, or Book of Rural Commodity 263
98. Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, Le roman de la rose, or The Romance of the Rose 267
99. Nicolas Bollard, On Planting and Grafting 269
100. Thomas Hill, The Gardener’s Labyrinth 272
101. Robert Laneham, Description of the Garden at Kenilworth 275
102. Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene 277
103. Gervase Markham, The En glish Husbandman, On Grafting 282
104. William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale 284
105. William Lawson, A New Orchard and Garden and The Countrie House wife’s Garden, On Domestic Gardening 286
106. John Parkinson, Paradisi in Sole: Paradisus Terrestris, On Nature and Gardening 290
107. Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort, Description of Her Garden 294
108. René Rapin, Hortorum Libri IV, or Of Gardens 296
109. Andrew Marvell, “The Mower Against Gardens” 298
110. Hester Pulter, “The Snail, the Tulip, and the Bee” 300
111. John Evelyn, Elysium Britannicum, or The Royal Gardens 302
112. John Worlidge, Systema Horticulturae, or The Art of Gardening in Three Books 306
113. PART VII Outlandish Natural Worlds 311
114. Pliny the Elder, Naturalis historia, or Natu ral History, On Arabia, Ethiopia, and the Fortunate Isles 313
115. John Mandeville, Travels 315
116. Leo Africanus, Della descrittione dell’Africa, or Description of Africa 319
117. Jean de Léry, Histoire d’un voyage fait en la terre de Brésil, or History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil 321
118. Thomas Harriot, Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia 324
119. Walter Raleigh, Discovery of the Large, Rich, and Beautiful Empire of Guiana 328
120. Michael Drayton, “Ode: To the Virginian Voyage” 332
121. John Parkinson, Theatrum Botanicum 335
122. Thomas Sprat, History of the Royal Society, Observations on Java 339
123. Aphra Behn, Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave: A True History 343
124. Recommended Reading and Bibliography 347
125. Permissions to Reprint 355
126. Index 357