mother of all mankind; who being deluded by the serpent, occasioned the fall, and all its dismal consequences. See Adam.

Evelyn, John, a most learned and ingenious writer and natural philosopher, was born at Wotton in Surry, the seat of his father, in 1620. After making the tour of Europe, he returned to England about the year 1651, and lived very retired at his rural retreat, Say's Court, near Deptford in Kent; where his disgust at the violence and confusion of the times operated so far upon his studious disposition, that he actually proposed to Mr Boyle the establishing a kind of college for persons of the same turn of mind, where they might associate together without care or interruption. It was owing to Mr Evelyn's gratitude to the place of his education, that Oxford became possessed of the famous Arundelian marbles; which he persuaded the Lord Henry Howard to bestow on that university. He was very affiduous in transmitting to the Royal Society whatever fell within the compass of his inquiries; and used humbly to style himself a pioneer in the service. When the number of books he published is considered, the many he left behind him unfinished and unpublished, and the variety of subjects on which he employed his time, his industry and application are astonishing. "His life (says the honourable Mr Walpole) was a course of inquiry, study, curiosity, instruction, and benevolence. The works of the Creator, and the mimic labours of the creature, were all objects of his pursuit. He unfolded the perfections of the one, and afflicted the imperfections 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 was really the neighbour of the Gosfield, for there was no man that might not have been the better for him. He was one of the first promoters of the Royal Society, a patron of the ingenious and indigent, and peculiarly serviceable to the lettered world; for, besides his writings and discoveries, he obtained the Arundelian marbles for the university of Oxford, and 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 imutility." There are five small prints of this gentleman's journey from Rome to Naples, drawn and etched by him; and among his published works are, 1. A Character of England; 2. The State of France; 3. An Essay on the the first book of Lucretius De rerum natura: 4. The French gardener; 5. A Panegyric on King Charles II.'s coronation; 6. Fumifugum, or the inconvenience of the air and smoke of London dissipated; 7. The History and Art of Engraving on Copper; 8. A parallel between the ancient architecture and the modern; 9. Sylva, or a discourse of forest trees; and several others. This amiable gentleman died, full of age and honour, in 1706. His son John Evelyn, born in 1654, distinguished himself by his elegant translations and poems; He was one of the commissioners of the revenue in Ireland; but died early in life, in 1698.