206:, p. 4), who had first made plants and trees come forth upon the earth. God intended the preservation of his creation, Blith suggested, and mankind was the instrument by which he would achieve this. For Blith, therefore, the historical examples of the Bible taught the lesson that individuals had a duty to God to practise a reformed husbandry, and that only by doing this might their country be redeemed from sin, famine, and warfare into a new Eden of peace and plenty.
146:
Blith's books on husbandry show notable good sense, based on the author's and others' farming experience. He presents his judgements and opinions carefully, and made textual changes in subsequent editions to describe new farming practices. His
133:
Blith was living at
Cotesbach when he made his will in 1650. He died in Lincolnshire, leaving sums between £260 and £340 apiece to his children, to be employed "either in a way of grazing or merchandizing". He was a member of the circle around
151:
was dedicated to both houses of
Parliament and to the "ingenuous reader". A second edition appeared in the same year, and third, "much augmented" in 1652, with a second part containing "Six Newer Pieces of Improvement". This was dedicated to
187:, through his concern for the poor: enclosure should not be allowed to cause depopulation. Blith's views almost certainly reflect discussion with Joseph Lee, the pamphleteer and advocate of enclosure, who was rector of
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Blith's work also bore a religious message, holding up "the examples of biblical husbandmen and improvers, from Adam to
Solomon, as well as that of God himself, 'the great Husbandman' (
209:
Blith's ideas brought some improvement in techniques, but the period of peace under the
Commonwealth was short-lived, and general, substantial improvement had to wait for the
183:
The books were written "in our own natural country language and in our ordinary and usual home-spun terms". He urged agricultural improvement, but showed less enthusiasm for
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156:, the council of state, nobility, gentry, soldiers, husbandmen, cottagers, labourers, and the meanest commoner. The new information concerned new crops such as
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54:, a prosperous cereal and dairy farmer, and Ann, daughter of Barnaby Holbeche of Birchley Hall,
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of 1607. Though Blith showed sympathy for the common man and understood the aspirations of the
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191:. Enclosure had in fact caused turmoil in the village in 1603 and made it a centre of the
8:
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168:, etc. Yet another edition appeared in 1653. Blith intended to write a further book on
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30:. His books promoted improvements in techniques, but were suppressed after the
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138:, the polymath, who described him as a "very loving and experienced friend".
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58:. Walter's elder brother Francis became a lawyer and married into the
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he became a captain in the parliamentary army and also solicitor and
241:(Oxford: Oxford University Press, this online edition January 2008)
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98:, and in 1649 and 1650 a surveyor of confiscated crown lands in
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50:, as the fourth and youngest son of John Blith (died 1626),
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Parliamentarian military personnel of the
English Civil War
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sympathies prevented any of his work reappearing after the
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Blith farmed his land diligently and carefully. During the
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Joan Thirsk: "Blith, Walter (baptised 1605, died 1654)"
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Catalogue of the Museum of
History of Science, Oxford:
62:. Blith and his wife Hannah, daughter of John Waker of
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and was described in the conveyance as a gentleman of
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The
English Improver, or, A New Survey of Husbandry
387:Military personnel from the West Midlands (county)
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199:, he did not think the latter were realistic.
114:. He himself bought confiscated crown land at
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172:, but apparently did not complete it. His
257:(London, 1652), 2nd e., "To the Reader".
244:
239:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
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22:(1605–1654) was an English writer on
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70:had three sons and four daughters.
13:
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367:17th-century English male writers
352:English male non-fiction writers
322:. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
318:Dictionary of National Biography
382:People from Harborough District
377:People from Coventry (district)
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269:
260:
1:
298:
96:dean and chapter of Worcester
362:17th-century English writers
255:A Discourse on Husbandrie...
16:Author of books on husbandry
7:
357:English non-fiction writers
289:Retrieved 2 September 2011.
277:Retrieved 2 September 2011.
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10:
403:
287:Folger Institute website:
26:and an official under the
90:land in Warwickshire and
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37:
347:English agriculturalists
266:London: J. Wright, 1649.
216:
305:Clarke, Ernest (1901).
211:Agricultural Revolution
42:Blith was baptised in
308:"Blith, Walter"
253:Samuel Hartlib, ed.:
213:of the next century.
68:Stratford upon Avon
80:English Civil War
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323:
320:(1st supplement)
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204:English Improver
170:animal husbandry
120:Northamptonshire
32:1660 Restoration
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174:Parliamentarian
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108:Huntingdonshire
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193:Midland revolt
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136:Samuel Hartlib
128:Leicestershire
104:Cambridgeshire
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100:Bedfordshire
84:sequestrator
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64:Snitterfield
48:Warwickshire
41:
28:Commonwealth
20:Walter Blith
19:
18:
342:1654 deaths
337:1605 births
313:Lee, Sidney
178:Restoration
116:Potterspury
331:Categories
299:References
160:, clover,
56:Fillongley
189:Cotesbach
185:enclosure
180:of 1660.
124:Cotesbach
24:husbandry
162:sainfoin
154:Cromwell
142:Writings
92:Coventry
88:royalist
44:Allesley
315:(ed.).
197:Diggers
166:lucerne
112:Norfolk
66:, near
74:Career
60:gentry
52:yeoman
38:Family
311:. In
217:Notes
158:woad
110:and
86:of
333::
246:^
226:^
164:,
130:.
126:,
118:,
106:,
102:,
46:,
34:.
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