John Evelyn

English writer and scientist

• Born: October 31, 1620
• Birthplace: Wotton, Surrey, England
• Died: February 27, 1706
• Place of death: Wotton, Surrey, England

A pioneer in the field of botanical writing, Evelyn wrote Sylva and many other works on the flora of his native land. He was also instrumental in founding the Royal Society.

Early Life

John Evelyn (EEV-luhn) was the second son of Richard Evelyn, a large landed proprietor in Wotton, Surrey. Richard was himself the grandson of George Evelyn, who was the first proprietor of gunpowder mills in the England of Elizabeth I. In 1589, he had secured a patent on the method of manufacturing gunpowder, which had previously been imported from the Continent. The method, involving the mixing of saltpeter, sulphur, and charcoal, produced black powder. The family business flourished until King Charles I converted it into a royal monopoly, essentially robbing the Evelyns of their livelihood.

Fortunately, the Evelyns had already used their profits from gunpowder manufacturing to buy significant land holdings, thereby converting the family into members of the landed gentry. By the time of John’s birth, the Evelyns had become wholly integrated into the class of large landowners who were able to live entirely from their land rents. The estate at Wotton owned by Richard Evelyn encompassed some 7,500 acres (3,035 hectares) and produced rents of around œ1,150 per year, a sum that enabled its owner to live in some comfort. As a second son, however, Evelyn did not initially inherit the estate; he received instead the income from some lesser properties owned by the family. Only following the death of his older brother in 1699 did John Evelyn become the proprietor of Wotton Estate.

Evelyn was raised in large measure by his maternal grandparents, who lived in Lewes, Sussex, in the hope that he would thus be distanced from the plague that was ravaging London and its surroundings. He attended some local schools but did not go to Eton; instead he went directly to Balliol College, Oxford, in 1637. Evelyn appears to have enjoyed the relative freedom of a college student and not to have applied himself much to his studies. In 1639 he joined his older brother in London at the Inns of Court, supposedly to acquire training in the law. Evelyn was more interested in politics than the law, however, and never developed any serious legal professionalism.

Life’s Work

The beginnings of the Puritan Revolution happened to coincide with Evelyn’s young adulthood, and the crisis turned Evelyn into a passionate Royalist. Although he occasionally took part in some of the military exercises of the adherents of Charles I, however, Evelyn did not join a Royalist regiment. Instead, most of the critical years of the Puritan Revolution Evelyn spent on the Continent, which he visited for the first time in 1641. He spent much of the decade of the 1640’s there, traveling extensively in the Low Countries, France, and Italy.

In 1643, in Paris, Evelyn paid his respects to Charles I’s resident envoy, Sir Richard Browne, and first encountered Browne’s daughter, Mary, whom he married in 1647. Shortly thereafter he “reconnoitred” the Browne’s estate, Sayes Court, just south of London. After the execution of Charles I in 1649 and the creation of the Commonwealth , Sayes Court was confiscated by the government and sold. Evelyn was successful in buying it back in 1653, and after his return to England in 1654, it became the residence of John and his new wife, Mary Browne. He devoted much of his time to restoring the grounds of the estate, and this work became the foundation of his knowledge of botany.

Evelyn had already begun his career as a writer, with an ephemeral pamphlet championing royal power, in 1649. He had previously written The State of France (1652), a perceptive pamphlet that was published in London. Other pamphlets championing royalty followed, including A Character of England (1659) and An Apology for the Royal Party (1659). These paved the way for Evelyn’s friendship with the restored Stuart monarch, Charles II, who returned to England in 1660. His friendship with the king was a major factor in one of Evelyn’s most significant achievements: He brokered royal support for the Royal Society , the group of thinkers in London that became the source of the new scientific knowledge. It was thanks to Evelyn that the Royal Society became an established entity under royal patronage in 1662.

During the decade of the 1660’s, Evelyn participated actively in the meetings of the Royal Society, and it was on October 15, 1662, that Evelyn made a presentation to the Society of his manuscript on sylva, the forest trees of England. The work that Evelyn had done in restoring the grounds of Sayes Court formed the basis of this study, together with a concern prevalent in governing circles that the rapid destruction of the forests of England then going on could, in the future, damage the British Navy, which relied on wood, especially oak timbers, for its vessels. Sylva: Or, A Discourse on Forest Trees and the Propagation of Timber (1664) was published at the instigation of the Royal Society; it was the first of their sponsored publications. It was far and away the most successful of Evelyn’s writings, with new editions appearing in his lifetime and well after.

Evelyn continued to be involved in the activities of the Royal Society. In 1678, he secured the donation of a valuable library to the society. In 1680, he joined in the campaign to elect Robert Boyle , the distinguished scientist and inventor of the airpump, president of the society, and he himself served as vice president of the society in 1685. Among its major concerns, the society placed agriculture high on the list, and Evelyn was involved in the many ongoing discussions of how to improve agriculture in England. These in turn fed into his botanical writings, including Kalendarium Hortense: Or, The Gardener’s Almanack (1664) and Acetaria (1699), about salad greens. He gathered material for a book to be entitled Elysium Britannicum , but much of what he had intended for that work appeared under other titles.

Evelyn’s interest in things botanical led him to an environmental concern, namely, the state of the atmosphere in London, which was heavily polluted at the time, as coal was being burned at a high rate to heat London’s houses. Evelyn’s concern led him to publish a pamphlet attacking the poor condition of the air, Fumifugium (1661), in which he proposed that all industrial activities in London be banished to the outskirts of the city. He even helped prepare a bill to this effect to be submitted to Parliament, but it never made it that far. The pamphlet was dedicated to King Charles II.

In the late 1660’s, Evelyn renewed his connection to Oxford University. He persuaded Henry Howard, later the duke of Norfolk, to present to Oxford the Arundel marbles, some 130 stone slabs, many of which were covered with chronologies of ancient Greek events and other engravings. Howard responded by hiring Evelyn to do some landscaping on one of his estates, and Oxford responded by awarding Evelyn an honorary doctorate in June of 1669.

Evelyn’s connections with the royal family led to his being given several largely honorary appointments, including commissioner of the privy seal. Charles II nominated him to the commission in charge of caring for the sick and wounded in the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665-67), and a similar appointment during the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672-1674). This activity, which entailed Evelyn’s personal involvement, led to his being named in 1695 to the post of treasurer of Chelsea Hospital, a hospital for wounded war veterans.

Significance

Much more is known of Evelyn than many of his contemporaries because of the diary that he kept throughout much of his life. It provides insight into the world of the seventeenth century country gentleman, as well as to English politics during that period. His Sylva is in many ways the first ecological treatise of the modern era, and his role in the foundation and activities of the Royal Society earn him a place in the history of science.

Bibliography

Bowle, John. John Evelyn and His World: A Biography. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981. A good biography of Evelyn, making clear the many faceted life he led.

Brimblecombe, Peter. The Big Smoke: A History of Air Pollution in London Since Medieval Times. New York: Methuen, 1987. A long range look at one of the ecological problems Evelyn tackled.

Eamon, William. Science and the Secrets of Nature: Books of Secrets in Medieval and Early Modern Culture. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1994. Portrays Evelyn as an advocate of scientific exclusivity.

Hiscock, W. G. John Evelyn and His Family Circle. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1955. Another biography, particularly useful because it includes a bibliography of Evelyn’s writings.

Lynch, William T. Solomon’s Child: Method in the Early Royal Society of London. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2001. The second chapter deals specifically with Evelyn’s role in the early Royal Society.