280

Book IV; j

o'V'O

A DISCOURSE

DENDROLOGI A.

■wr

The F 0 U R T H ROOK.

An Historical Account of the Sacredness and typof standing Groves , &c.

1. AND thus have we finish’d what we esteem’d necessary f° rDirection of ‘Planting, and the Culture of Trees andin general; whether for the raising of New, or preservation of *more ancient and venerable Jhades, crowning the Brows ot 1 ° ^Hills, or furnishing and adorning the more fruitful and hufls ^Plains , Groves and For efts, such as were never prophan’d by the thumanity of Edge-Tools: Woods , whose Original are as unknownthe Arcadians ; like the goodly Cedars of Libanus, Psalm 104. ^.bores ‘Dei, according to the Hebrew, for something doubtless >vRithey noted in the Genius of those Venerable Places besides their & e ^Bulk and Stature: And verily, I cannot think to have well acquitmy self of this useful Subject, till I shall have in some sort vindlc^the Honour o£ Trees and Woods, by shewing my Reader of" .Estimation they were of old for their Divine, as well as Civil k/; |at least refresh both Him, and my Self, with what occurs of a

and Instructive amongst the Learned concerning them. And b r J-standing Woods and Forests were not only th t Original HabitatsMen, and for "Defence and Fortresses, but the first occasion of '-‘VSpeech, Polity and Society which made them differ from ^This, the Architect * Vitruvius ingeniously describes, where he te* Vitruy. J. us t j iat t j ie v i 0 i en t percussion of one Tree against another forc’d by 1impetuous Wind, setting them on fire, the Flame did not sosurprize and affright the salvage Foresters, as the Warmth, which \ter a little gazing at the unusual Accident, they found so comfort jThis ( fays he ) invited them to approach it nearer, and as it spent aconsumes, by Signs and barbarous Tones (which in process ofwere form’d into significant Words ) to encourage one another toply it with fresh Combustibles’. By this Accident the wild People? ^before were afraid of one another, and dwelt asunder, began to fi‘ 1( . .

benefit and sweetness of Society, mutual Assistance, and Converf^ 1 ^which they afterwards improv’d, by building Houses with those T-and dwelling nearer together : From these mean and imperfect be^nings they arrival in time to be Authors of the most polish'o/y ^establish’d Laws , peopled Nations, planted Countries , and l al ^ n gFoundation of all that Order and Magnificence which the i' acce 5 r^;

J^ave enjoy'd. No more then let us admire the enormousand Bridges of Caligula across to Baia ; or that of Trajan oVC f ve feDanubius , stupendous Work of Stone and Marble , to the aShores j whilst out Timber and our Trees making us Bridges ^

t> C. It