Hinc atque hinc glomerantur Oreades; ipsi
Agricolae tacitum pertentant gaudia pectus.
On his heart-strings a secret joy does strike.
The antiquity of his art is certainly not to be contested by any
other. The three first men in the world were a gardener, a
ploughman, and a grazier; and if any man object that the second of
these was a murderer, I desire he would consider, that as soon as he
was so, he quitted our profession and turned builder. It is for
this reason, I suppose, that Ecclesiasticus forbids us to hate
husbandry; because, says he, the Most High has created it. We were
all born to this art, and taught by nature to nourish our bodies by
the same earth out of which they were made, and to which they must
return and pay at last for their sustenance.
Behold the original and primitive nobility of all those great
persons who are too proud now not only to till the ground, but
almost to tread upon it. We may talk what we please of lilies and
lions rampant, and spread eagles in fields d'or or d'argent; but if
heraldry were guided by reason, a plough in a field arable would be
the most noble and ancient arms.
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