Marvels of the World

Rebecca Bushnell is the School of Arts and Sciences Board of Overseers Emerita Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Green Desire: Imagining Early Modern English Gardens among other books.

• ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart 1. Natural Philosophy and Natural KnowledgeHebrew Bible, Genesis 1Aristotle, PhysicsLucretius, De rerum natura, or On the Nature of ThingsPliny the Elder, Naturalis historia, or Natural History, On the Nature of the EarthAvicenna, The Canon of Medicine, On the ElementsHildegard of Bingen, Causae et curae, or Causes and CuresAlain de Lille, De planctu naturae, or The Complaint of NatureRoger Bacon, Opus majus, or Greater WorkSaint Thomas Aquinas, Quaestiones disputatae de potentia dei, or Disputed Questions on the Power of GodPseudo-Albertus Magnus, The Book of the Secrets of Albertus MagnusGiambattista della Porta, Magia naturalis, or Natural MagicGuillaume du Bartas, La sepmaine ou creation du monde, or Divine Weeks and Works, On the Seventh DayHugh Platt, Floraes ParadiseFrancis Bacon, Novum organum, or New Organon, and New AtlantisHannah Wolley, The Ladies DirectoryMargaret Cavendish, The Blazing WorldThomas Sprat, History of the Royal SocietySor Juana InÉs de la Cruz, "First Dream"Part 2. PlantsTheophrastus, De causis plantarum, or On the Causes of PlantsAristotle, De anima, or Of the SoulDioscorides, De materia medica, or HerbalPliny the Elder, Naturalis historia, or Natural History, On FlowersPseudo-Apuleius, The Old English HerbariumGeoffrey Chaucer, The Legend of Good WomenPierre de Ronsard, "Ode to Cassandra"Leonhart Fuchs, De historia stirpium, or On the History of PlantsWilliam Turner, A New HerbalJohn Gerard, The Herbal or General History of PlantsGuillaume Du Bartas, La sepmaine ou creation du monde, or Divine Weeks and Works, OnAconiteWilliam Lawson, A New Orchard and Garden, On the Cultivation of TreesJohn Parkinson, Paradisi in Sole: Paradisus Terrestris, On AuriculasGeorge Herbert, "The Flower"Ralph Austen, A Treatise of Fruit Trees, and The Spiritual Use of an Orchard or Garden of Fruit TreesJohanna St. John, Manuscript RecipesSamuel Gilbert,Florist's Vade-Mecum, On AuriculasPart 3. AnimalsAristotle, Historia animalium, or The History of AnimalsPliny the Elder, Naturalis historia, or Natural History, On AnimalsPhysiologusBartholomaeus Anglicus, De proprietatibus rerum, or On the Properties of ThingsSecond-Family BestiarySir Gawain and the Green KnightGeoffrey Chaucer, The Parliament of FowlsMarie de France, FablesJohn Lydgate, "The Debate of the Horse, Goose, and Sheep"Anselm Turmeda, The Disputation of the DonkeyMichel de Montaigne, "An Apology for Raymond Sebond"John Caius, Of English DoggesThomas Johnson, CornucopiaeEdward Topsell, The History of Four-Footed BeastsGervase Markham, Markham's MasterpieceHester Pulter, "The Ugly Spider"Richard Lovelace, "The Snail"Margaret Cavendish, Grounds of Natural PhilosophyRobert Hooke, MicrographiaPart 4. Weather, Climate, and SeasonsHippocrates, Airs, Waters, PlacesAristotle, Meteorologica, or MeteorologyVirgil, Georgics, Book 1, On the StormPseudo-Aristotle, Secreta secretorum, or The Secret of SecretsAvicenna, The Canon of Medicine, On ClimateWandalbert of PrÜm, On the Names, Signs, Times of Planting, and Qualities of Weather of the TwelveMonthsWilliam Ram, Rams Little DodoenThomas Tusser, An Hundredth Points of Good HusbandrieWilliam Shakespeare, King LearAmelia Lanyer, "The Description of Cookham"William Shakespeare, The TempestThomas Jackson, The Raging Tempest StilledThomas Sprat and Robert Hooke, History of the Royal Society, On WeatherSamuel Gilbert, Florist's Vade-Mecum, Instructions for JulyPart 5. Inhabiting the LandTheocritus, Idyll 7Virgil, Eclogue 1Virgil, Georgics, On FarmingColumella, Res rustica, or On Agriculture, On FarmingWalter of Henley, Dite de hosbondrie, or Boke of HusbandryWilliam Langland, Piers PlowmanSecond Shepherd's Play, from the Wakefield Mystery PlaysJacopo Sannazaro, ArcadiaThomas More, UtopiaThomas Tusser, Five Hundredth Points of Good HusbandrieWilliam Harrison, Description of EnglandEdmund Spenser, The Shephearde's CalendarGervase Markham, The English Husbandman, On FarmingBen Jonson, "To Penshurst"Mary Wroth, UraniaRobert Herrick, "The Hock-Cart, or Harvest Home"Walter Blith, The English Improver Improved Part 6. Gardens and GardeningColumella, Res rustica, or On Agriculture, On GardensPietro de' Crescenzi, Liber ruralium commodorum, or Book of Rural CommodityGuillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, Le roman de la rose, or The Romance of the RoseNicolas Bollard, On Planting and GraftingThomas Hill, The Gardener's LabyrinthRobert Laneham, Description of the Garden at KenilworthEdmund Spenser, The Faerie QueeneGervase Markham, The English Husbandman, On GraftingWilliam Shakespeare, The Winter's TaleWilliam Lawson, A New Orchard and Garden and The Countrie Housewife's Garden, On DomesticGardeningJohn Parkinson, Paradisi in Sole: Paradisus Terrestris, On Nature and GardeningMary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort, Description of Her GardenRenÉ Rapin, Hortorum Libri IV, or Of GardensAndrew Marvell, "The Mower Against Gardens"Hester Pulter, "The Snail, the Tulip, and the Bee"John Evelyn, Elysium Britannicum, or The Royal GardensJohn Worlidge, Systema Horticulturae, or The Art of Gardening in Three BooksPart 7. Outlandish Natural WorldsPliny the Elder, Naturalis historia, or Natural History, On Arabia, Ethiopia, and the Fortunate IslesJohn Mandeville, TravelsLeo Africanus, Della descrittione dell'Africa, or Description of AfricaJean de LÉry, Histoire d'un voyage fait en la terre de BrÉsil, or History of a Voyage to the Land ofBrazilThomas Harriot, Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of VirginiaWalter Raleigh, Discovery of the Large, Rich, and Beautiful Empire of GuianaMichael Drayton, "Ode: To the Virginian Voyage"John Parkinson, Theatrum BotanicumThomas Sprat, History of the Royal Society, Observations on JavaAphra Behn, Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave: A True HistoryRecommended Reading and BibliographyPermissions to ReprintIndex