EVELYN, JOHN, a distinguished naturalist and writer on various subjects, was born at Wotton in Surrey, on the 31st of October 1620. In the fifth year of his age he was sent to Lewes in Sussex, where he was placed under the superintendence of his grandfather. The latter, however, having died in 1627, Evelyn in the following year was sent to learn his "Latin rudiments, and to write." In 1637, he entered as a student in Bally College, Oxford; and in 1640 he removed to the Middle Temple, London. But his studies were interrupted by the civil commotions of this period; and about a year after his arrival in the Temple, he left England for the Continent. He returned in 1642; but the rupture between the king and the parliament had now assumed a serious aspect; loyalty could no longer be professed with safety; and in the year following, having asked and obtained the king's leave of absence, he became an exile, and spent several years in travelling through France and Italy. His powers of observation appear to have been great; and the curious and useful information which he thereby acquired constitutes the charm of many of his works, particularly of his diary. In 1647 he married the only daughter of Sir Richard Browne, the king's minister at Paris, in whose right he acquired the mansion of Sayes Court, near Deptford. This matrimonial alliance was a happy one. In his wife he possessed a woman of an enlightened mind, and of dispositions congenial with his own. That Evelyn must have conducted himself with more than ordinary prudence and discretion, appears evident; for whilst he thus allied himself with Sir Richard Browne, the ambassador of King Charles II. at Paris, he possessed several personal friends at the court of Cromwell, and in fact returned to England a few months after his marriage. Here he remained till 1649, when he again departed for the Continent; but returned to England in 1651. His manners, we may presume, were very agreeable, for his company was sought by the most eminent foreigners; and during his travels he made acquaintance not only with individuals distinguished for their learning, but with ingenious men belonging to every art and profession.
After his final settlement in his native country, Evelyn engaged in literary pursuits. His first undertaking was a translation from the French; and from the period of its publication to the close of a long life, he continued to give to the world original works replete with information alike useful, entertaining, and philosophical. These will be afterwards enumerated. After the death of Cromwell he interested himself in the restoration of Charles II., for which he was much favoured by that monarch, after his resumption of the royal prerogative. In 1660-61 he was nominated by his majesty one of the council, and chosen by the rest of the members a Fellow of the Philosophical Society, which met at Gresham College. This institution formed the basis of the Royal Society, which was established about two years afterwards, and to which Evelyn read a treatise on forest trees. This discourse formed the foundation of his most celebrated production entitled Sylva. In 1664 Evelyn was appointed one of the commissioners of the sick and wounded, and likewise a commissioner for rebuilding St Paul's Cathedral. When the board of trade was established by Charles II. Evelyn was nominated one of the members; and on this occasion he drew up a tract on navigation and commerce. In the reign of James II. he was one of the commissioners for executing the office of privy seal during the absence of the Earl of Clarendon in Ire-
Evergetes. land. He continued in favour at court even after the revolution, and was made treasurer of Greenwich Hospital, the foundation stone of which he laid in the year 1696. By the death of his elder brother in 1699, he succeeded to the paternal estate, and quitted Sayes Court for Wotton, where he passed the remainder of his life, excepting occasional visits to London, where he died on the 27th of February 1705-6, in the eighty-sixth year of his age.
In his personal character Evelyn was truly amiable. He discharged the relative duties of father, husband, and friend, in an exemplary manner; and during his long and useful, rather than splendid career, numerous offices of trust were reposed in him; nor was this confidence misplaced. His correspondence with foreigners as well as Englishmen was so extensive, that it is surprising he should have found time for examining what was deemed worthy of curiosity or of scientific observation, and for composing the great variety of works which he published. "His life," says Horace Walpole, "was a course of inquiry, study, curiosity, instruction, and benevolence. The works of the Creator, and the minute labours of the creature, were all objects of his pursuit. He unfolded the perfection of the one, and assisted the imperfection of the other. He adored from examination, was a courtier that flattered only by informing his prince, and by pointing out what was worthy for him to countenance; and really was the neighbour of the gospel, for there was no man that might not have been the better for him. Whoever peruses a list of his works will subscribe to my assertion. He was one of the first promoters of the Royal Society, a patron of the ingenious and the indigent, and peculiarly serviceable to the lettered world; for, besides his writings and discoveries, he obtained the Arundelian library for the Royal Society. Nor is it the least part of his praise that he who proposed to Mr Boyle the erection of a philosophical college for retired and speculative persons, had the honesty to write in defence of active life against Sir George Mackenzie's Essay on Solitude. He knew that retirement, in his own hands, was industry and benefit to mankind, but in those of others, laziness and intuity." The principal works of Mr Evelyn are, 1. An Essay on the First Book of Lucretius, in English verse, 8vo; 2. The French Gardener, 12mo; 3. Pumifugium, or the Inconveniences of the Air and Smoke of London dissipated, 4to; 4. Sculpture, or the History and Art of Chalcography and Engraving in Copper, 8vo; 5. Sylva, or a Discourse of Forest Trees; to which is added Pomona, concerning Fruit Trees, folio. In 1776 a new edition of the Sylva was published by Dr Hunter of York, and again in 1812. 6. A Parallel of the Ancient Architecture with the Modern, folio; 7. Calendarium Hortense, or the Gardener's Almanac, 8vo; 8. Public Employment and an Active Life preferred to Solitude, 8vo; 9. An Idea of the Perfection of Painting, 8vo; 10. A Discourse on the History of Trade and Navigation; 11. Terra, a Philosophical Discourse of Earth, 8vo; 12. Numismata, or a Discourse of Medals, folio. The Memoirs of Evelyn, comprehending an interesting diary and correspondence, were published in 1819, 2 vols. 4to, and more recently in 5 vols. 8vo. His miscellaneous works have also been collected and given to the public. They include treatises on gardening, architecture, medals, &c. besides a curious tract entitled Mundus Muliebris; or the Ladies' Dressing Room unlocked, and the Toilette spread, in burlesque; together with the Pop's Dictionary, or Catalogue of Hard Names and Terms of the Art Cosmetick, first printed in 1690.