r?8 A DISCOURSE

Book III. (where Plautus names it Provincia caiidicaria ) referring only to f°^nndcs-Officer, subservient to the other: And such a Charge is atday extant amongst the noble Venetians > who have near Trivifi (^fides what they nourish in other places) a goodly Fores of Oaks , P[fserved as a Jewels for the only use of the Arsenals called the Mont'e >which is in length twelve Miles, large five, and near twentyin compass; carefully supervised by a certain Officer , whom 'nam« il Capitano : The like have the Geno'ezes for the care of igoodly Forejis of Aitonæ, in the Ifland of Corsica, full of g°° JOaks, and other Timber ; which not only furnish that State with h'cient Materials to build their own Gallies, and other Vessels,many for sale to other Nations, that since the late Insult the Ire$made upon that Glorious City, he has haughtily forbid them to 1 r Isick any more with Strangers, by supplying them as heretofore, togreat Detriment and Loss: This Timber is of such a Grain and Xlity , as though felled in the New Moon , it is not at all impaiVd-

We might, besides all these, insance in many other prudent bta ’not to importune you with the express Laws which Ancus M& r . slthe Nephew of Numa , and other Trine es long before Cæsar , did ot ^for this very purpose ; since, indeed, the care of 16 publick and ho" ,rable an Enterprize as is this of Planting and Improving of ^is a tight Noble and Roy alUnder taking ; as that of the Forest of ^ j&c. in particular, ( were it bravely manag’d ) an Imperial Design ; ^I do pronounce it more worthy of a Prince, who truly coningGlory in the highest Interest of his Subjects, than that of g ain 'Battels, or subduing a Province.

And now after all this, and the Directions and Encouragement ^ [)Stnerated in this Chapter, together with the most important Cost cof these Dominions, and (next to God's immediate ‘Protections ^only and most necessary Expedient to preserve them: By wholegence so little Effects appear of these Improvements, which ini vpjrjlthis time have been made in the Royal Magazines, ever since the jEdition of this Treatise ( and of lo fair a growth of useful Ti^ylist not to declare; though the Officers then intrusted, and whole ^it was, be now no more: I cannot, however, but call to min v v/rf/seemingly solicitous and earnest the Commissioners were, I should * iand methodize the Papers I laid before them on this Subject?

Zeal becoming Publick Spirits ( as under their Hands I have to mwhilst the putting it in practice to any laudable degree, was l°f\by as a Project scarce worth the while. I again affirm, That h* d ^Advantages of Forest Culture been then vigorously encourage* ^promoted, there had now been of those Materials infinite st° rC > fl0 jtfrom the very Acorn and Seminary, a competent advance ofuseful Timber for the building of Ships, ( as I think ismade out) since his late Majesty’s Restoration: The want of * 1 ^ ^and the necessity of being supply’d by Foreign Countries, if n ° tvented by better and more industrious Instruments, may Vj. oV ? u tif*short time a greater mischief to the Publick, than the late ds^ fof the Coin. I wish I prove no Prophet , whilst I cannot forbut often think of what the learned Melancthon above &(,>1Years since was wont to lay (long before thole barbafous lv ,made these Devastations in Germany ), That the Time waswhen the want of three Things would be the Ruin of Europe ;