EV'ELYN, Jonx, a well-known writer of the 17th c., was b. Oct. 31, 1620, at Wotton, the seat of the Evelyn family, in Surrey. He was educated at the free school of Lewes, and subsequently at Balliol college, Oxford. In 1640, he entered the middle temple, and in the following year, prompted by the ominous appearance of public affairs, and after having witnessed the trial of Strafford, lie set out for the continent, returning, however, in the autumn of the same year. In 1642, upon offering his services to Charles I., he was accepted as a volunteer in prince Rupert's troop, but in 1643 he again went to the continent, where be mainly lived during the following eight years. After 1652, lie settled in England, where he lived studiously and in private till the restoration, after which he was 'much employed by the geverunient. On the organization of the royal society, he became one of the first members, and was an industrious contributor to its transactions. He succeeded, in 1699, to the family estate at Wotton, and there, after a long, studious, and highly useful life, lie died 27th Feb., 1706.
His pen seems to have been constantly employed, and that upon a great variety of subjects. Art, architecture, gardening, commerce, etc., were all treated of by E., and in such a manner as to produce the most beneficial results on his own time. His prin cipal works are Sculptura, or the History and Art of Chalcography and Engraving on Copper, 1662; Silva, or a Discourse of Forest Trees, etc., 1664; and his Memoirs (first pub lished in 1818). It is to the last of these works E. owes the celebrity he now enjoys. The ffentoirs are written in the form of a diary, by one who had accustomed himself to habits of close observation, and continued during a period of about 70 years—and these the most dramatic in the recent history of England. They are of inestimable value. Sir Walter Scott said that "he had never seen a mine so rich." New editions were published in 1850, 1854, and 1870.