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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38811	Sylva, or, A discourse of forest-trees, and the propagation of timber in His Majesties dominions as it was deliver'd in the Royal Society the XVth of October, MDCLXII upon occasion of certain quæries propounded to that illustrious assembly, by the Honourable the Principal Officers, and Commissioners of the Navy : to which is annexed Pomona, or, An appendix concerning fruit-trees in relation to cider, the making, and severall wayes of ordering it published by expresse order of the Royal Society : also Kalendarivm hortense, or, the Gard'ners almanac, directing what he is to do monthly throughout the year / by John Evelyn ...	Evelyn, John, 1620-1706.	1670 (1670)	Wing E3517; ESTC R586	328,786	359

thirteen foot diameter at the Kerf or cutting place neer the Root In the same Park two years since Mr. Sittwell with Jo. Magson did chuse a Tree which after it was cut and said aside flat upon a level ground Sam. Staniforth a Keeper and Ed. Morphy both on horse-back could not see over the Tree one anothers Hat-crowns This Tree was afterwards sold for 20 li. In the same Park neer the old foord is an Oak-tree yet standing of ten yards circumference In the same Park below the Conduit Plain is an Oak-tree which bears a top whose boughs shoot from the boal some fifteen and some sixteen yards Then admitting 15½ yards for the common or mean extent of the boughs from the boal which being doubled is 31 yards and if it be imagin'd for a diameter because the Ratio of the diameter to the circumference is 113 355 it follows 113.355 ∷ 31.97 44 113 yards which is the circumference belonging to this diameter Then farther it is demonstrable in Geometry that half the diameter multiplied into half the circumference produces the Area or quantity of the Circle and that will be found to be 754347 452 which is 755 square yards ferè Then lastly if a Horse can be limited to three square yards of ground to stand on which may seem a competent proportion of three yards long and one yard broad then may 251 Horse be well said to stand under the shade of this Tree But of the more Northern Cattle certainly above twice that number Worksopp-Park 16. In this Park at the corner of the Bradshaw-rail lyeth the boal of an Oak-tree which is twenty nine foot about and would be found thirty if it could be justly measur'd because it lyeth upon the ground and the length of this boal is ten foot and no arm nor branch upon it In the same Park at the white gate a Tree did stand that was from bough end to bough end that is from the extream ends of two opposite boughs 180 foot which is witness'd by Jo. Magson and Geo. Hall and measur'd by them both Then because 180 foot or 60 yards is the diameter 30 yards will be the semidiameter And by the former Analogies 113.355 ∷ 60 188½ and 1.30 ∷ 94¼ 2827½ That is the Content of ground upon which this Tree perpendicularly drops is above 2827 square yards which is above half an Acre of ground And the assigning three square yards as above for an Horse there may 942 be well said to stand in this compass In the same Park after many hundreds sold and carryed away there is a Tree which did yield quarter-cliff bottoms that were a yard square and there is of them to be seen in Worksopp at this day and some Tables made of the said quarter-cliff likewise In the same Park in the place there call'd the Hawks-nest are Trees forty foot long of Timber which will bear two foot square at the top-end or height of forty foot If then a square whose side is two foot be inscribed in a Circle the proportions at that Circle are feet Diameter 2 8284 Circumference 8 8858 Area 6 2831 And because a Tun of Timber is said to contain forty solid feet one of these Columns of Oak will contain above six Tun of Timber and a quarter in this computation taking them to be Cylinders and not tapering like the segment of a Cone Welbeek-Lane 17. The Oak which stands in this Lane call'd Grindal Oak hath at these several distances from the ground these Circumferences   foot foot   inch at 1 33 01 at 2 28 05 at 6 25 07 The breadth is from bough-end to bough-end i. diametrically 88 foot the height from the ground to the top-most bough 81 foot this dimension taken from the proportion that a Gnomon bears to the shadow there are three Arms broken off and 〈◊〉 and eight very large ones yet remaining which are very 〈◊〉 good Timber 88 foot is 29⅓ yards which being in this case admitted for the diameter of a circle the square yards in that circumference will be 676 ferè and then allowing three yards as before for a beast leaves 225 beasts which may possibly stand under this Tree But the Lords-Oak that stood in Rivelin was in diameter three yards and twenty eight inches and exceeded this in circumference three feet at one foot from the ground Shire-Oak Shire-Oak is a Tree standing in the ground late Sir Tho. Hewets about a mile from Worksopp-Park which drops into three Shires viz. York Nottingham and Derby and the distance from bough-end to bough-end is ninety foot or thirty yards This circumference will contain neer 707 square yards sufficient to shade 235 horse Thus far the accurate Mr. Halton 18. Being inform'd by a person of credit that an Oak in Sheffield-Park call'd the Ladies-Oak fell'd contain'd forty two Tun of Timber which had Arms that held at least four foot square for ten yards in length the Body six foot of clear Timber That in the same Park one might have chosen above 1000 Trees worth above 6000 li. another 1000 worth 4000 li. sic de caeteris To this M. Halton replies That it might possibly be meant of the Lords-Oak already mention'd to have grown in Rivelin For now Rivelin it self is totally destitute of that issue she once might have gloried in of Oaks there being only the Hall-Park adjoyning which keeps up with its number of Oaks And as to the computation of 1000 Trees formerly in Sheffield-Park worth 6000 li. it is believ'd there were a thousand much above that value since in what is now inclos'd it is evident touching 100 worth a thousand pounds I am inform'd that an Oak I think in Shropshire growing lately in a Coppse of my Lord Cravens yielded 19 Tun and half of Timber 2● Cord of Fire-wood 2 load of Brush and 2 load of Bark And my worthy friend Leonard Pinckney Esq late first Clerk of his Majesties Kitchin from whom I receiv'd the first hints of many of these particulars did assure me that one John Garland built a very handsome Barne containing five Baies with Pan Posts Beams Spars c. of one sole Tree growing in Worksopp-Park I will close This with an Instance which I greatly value because it is transmitted to me from that honourable and noble Person Sir Ed. Harley I am says he assur'd by an Inquisition taken about 300 years since that a Park of mine and some adjacent Woods had not then a Tree capable to bear Acorns Yet that very Park I have seen full of great Oaks and most of them in the extreamest Wane of decay The Trunk of one of these Oaks afforded so much Timber as upon the place would have yielded 15 li. and did compleatly seat with Waine-scot Pues a whole Church You may please says he writing to Sir Rob. Morray to remember when you were here you took notice of a large Tree newly fallen When it was wrought up it proved very

odor to the Drink and how soverain those resinous woods the Tops of Fir and Pines are against the Scorbut we generally find It is in the same Chapter that he commends also Wormwood Marrubium Chamelaeagnum Sage Tamarisc and almost any thing rather than Hopps The Pine or Picea buried in the Earth never decay From the latter transudes a very bright and pellucid Gum hence we have likewise Rosin also of the Pine are made Boxes and Barrels for dry Goods yea and it is cloven into Shingles for the covering of Houses in some places also Hoops for Wine-Vessels especially of the easily flexible Wild-Pine not to forget the Kernels this Tree being alwayes furnish'd with Cones some ripe others green of such admirable use in Emulsion and the Tooth-pickers for which even the very leaves are commended In sum they are Plantations which exceedingly improve the Air by their oderiferous and balsamical emissions and for ornament create a perpetual Spring where they are plentifully propagated And if it could be proved that the Almugim-trees Recorded 1 Reg. 10.12 and whereof Pillars for that famous Temple and the Royal Palace Harps and Psalteries c. were made were of this sort of Wood as some doubt not to assert we should esteem it at another rate yet we know Josephus affirms they were a kind of Pine-tree though somewhat resembling the Fig-tree wood to appearance as of a most lustrious Candor In the 2 Chron. 2.8 there is mention of Almug-trees to grow in Lebanon and if so methinks it should rather be a kind of Cedar yet we find Firr also in the same period for we have seen a whiter sort of it even very white as well as red though some affirm it to be but the Sap of it so our Cabinet-makers call it I say their were both Fir and Pine-trees also growing upon those Mountains Mr. Purchas informs us that Dr. Dee Writ a laborious Treatise almost wholly of this Subject but I could never have the good hap to see it wherein as Commissioner for Solomon's Timber and like a Learned Architect and Planter he has summon'd a Jury of twelve sorts of Trees namely 1. the Fir 2. Box 3. Cedar 4. Cypresse 5. Ebony 6. Ash 7. Juniper 8. Larch 9. Olive 10. Pine 11. Oke and 12. Sandal-trees to examine which of them were this Almugim and at last seems to concur with Josephus in favour of Pine or Fir who possibly from some antient Record or fragment of the Wood it self might learn something of it and 't is believ'd that it was some material both odoriferous to the Sent and beautiful to the Eye and of fittest temper to refract Sounds besides its serviceablenesse for Building all which Properties are in the best sort of Pine or Thyina as Pliny calls it or perhaps some other rare Wood of which the Eastern Indias are doubtlesse the best provided and yet I find that these vast beams which sustain'd the Roof of S. Peter's Church at Rome laid as reported by Constantine the Great were made of the Pitch tree and have lasted from Anno 336. down to our dayes above 1300. years 16. But now whiles I am reciting the Vses of these beneficial Trees Mr. Winthorp presents the Royal Society with the Process of making the Tar and Pitch in New-England which we thus abbreviate Tar is made out of that sort of Pine-tree from which natually Turpentine extilleth and which at its first flowing out is liquid and clear but being hardned by the Air either on the Tree or where-ever it falls is not much unlike the Burgundy Pitch and we call them Pitch pines out of which this gummy substance transudes They grow upon the most barren Plains on Rocks also and Hills rising amongst those Plains where several are found blown dovvn that have lain so many Ages as that the vvhole Bodies Branches and Roots of the Trees being perished some certain knots onely of the Boughs have been left remaining intire these knots are that part vvhere the bough is joyn'd to the body of the Tree lying at the same distance and posture as they grevv upon the Tree for its vvhole length The Bodies of some of these Trees are not corrupted through age but quite consum'd and reduc'd to ashes by the annual burnings of the Indians when they set their grounds on fire which yet has it seems no power over these hard knots beyond a black scorching although being laid on heaps they are apt enough to burn It is of these knots they make their Tar in New-England and the Countrey adjacent whiles they are well impregnated with that Terebinthine and Resinous ●atter which like a Balsam preserves them so long from putrifaction The rest of the Tree does indeed contain the like Terebinthine Sap as appears upon any slight incision of bark on the stem or boughs by a small crystaline pearl which will sweat out but this for being more watery and undigested by reason of the porosity of the Wood which exposes it to the impressions of the Air and Wet renders the Tree more obnoxious especially if it lye prostrate with the bark on which is a receptacle for a certain Intercutaneous Worm that accelerates its decay They are the knots then alone which the Tar-makers amass in heaps carrying them in Carts to some convenient place not far off where finding Clay or Loam fit for their turn they lay an Hearth of such ordinary stone as they have at hand This they build to such an height from the level of the ground that a Vessel may stand a little lower then the Hearth to receive the Tar as it runs out But first the Hearth is made wide according to the quantity of knots to be set at once and that with a very smooth floor of Clay yet somewhat descending or dripping from the extream parts to the middle and thence towards one of the sides where a gullet is left for the Tar to run out at The Hearth thus finish'd they pile the knots one upon another after the very same manner as our Colliers do their wood for Char-coal and of a height proportionable to the breadth of the Hearth and then cover them over with a coat of loam or clay which is best or in defect of those with the best and most tenacious Earth the place will afford leaving onely a small spiracle at the top whereat to put the fire in and making some little holes round about at several heights for the admission of so much air as is requisite to keep it burning and to regulate the fire by opening and stopping them at pleasure The processe is almost the the same with that of making Char●coal as will appear in due place for when it is well on fire that middle hole is also stopp'd and the rest of the Registers so govern'd as the knots may keep burning and not be suffocated with too much smoak whiles all being now through heated the Tar runs down to the Hearth together with some of the

them when the weeds are very young and tender least in stead of purging you quite erradicate your Cypress We have spoken of Watering and indeed whilst young if well follow'd they will make a prodigious advance when that long and incomparable walke of Cypress at Frascati neer Rome was first planted they drew a small stream and indeed Irrigare is properly thus aquam inducere riguis i.e. in small gutters and rills by the foot of it as the Water there is in abundance tractable and made it arrive to seven or eight foot height in one year but with us we may not be too prodigal since being once well taken they thrive best in our sandy light and warmest grounds whence Cardan says juxta aquas arescit meaning in low and moorish places stiff and cold earth c. where they never thrive 12. What the Vses of this Timber are for Chests and other Vtensils Harps and divers other Musical Instruments it being a very sonorous wood and therefore employ'd for Organ-pipes as heretofore for supporters of Vines Poles Rails and Planks resisting the Worm Moth and all putrefaction to eternity the Venetians sufficiently understand who did every twenty year and oftner the Romans every thirteen make a considerable Revenue of it out of Candy And certainly a very gainful commodity it was when the Fell of a Cupressetum was heretofore reputed a good Daughters Portion and the Plantation it self call'd Dotem filiae But there was in Candy a vast Wood of these Trees belonging to the Republique by malice or accident set on Fire which Anno 1400. burnt for seven years continually before it could be quite extinguish'd fed so long a space by the unctuous nature of the Timber of which there were to be seen at Venice planks of above foure foot in bredth and formerly the Valves of Saint Peters Church at Rome were framed of this Material which lasted from the great Constantine to Pope Eugenius the Fourths time almost six hundred years and then were found as fresh and intire as if they had been new But this Pope would needs change them for Gates of Brasse which were cast by the famous Antonio Philarete not in my opinion so venerable as those other of Cypresse It was in Coffins of this material that Thycidides tells us the Athenians us'd to bury their Heros 13. The Timber of this wood was of infinite esteem with the Antients That lasting Bridge built over the Euphrates by Semiramis was made of this wood and it is reported Plato chose it to Write his Laws in before Brasse it self for the diuturnity of the matter It is certain that it never rifts or cleaves but with great violence and the bitternesse of its juice preserves it from all Worms and putrifaction To this day those of Creet and Malta make use of it for their Buildings because they have it in plenty and there is nothing out-lasts it or can be more beautifull especially than the Root of the wilder sort incomparable for its crisped undulations Divers Learned Persons have conceiv'd the Gopher mention'd in holy Writ Gen. 6.14 and of which the Ark was built to have been no other than this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cupar or Cuper by the easie mutation of Letters and beside 't is known that in Creet they employ'd it for the same use in the largest contignations and did formerly build Ships of it And Epiphanius Haeres l. 1. tells us some Reliques of that Ark lasted even to his dayes and was judged to have been of Cypresse Some indeed suppose that Copher was the Name of a Place a Cupressis as Elon a Quercubus and might possibly be that which Strabo calls Cupressetum neer Adiabens in Assyria But for the reason of its long lasting Coffins as noted for the dead were made of it and thence it first became to be Diti Sacra and the Valves or Doors of the Ephesine Temple were likewise of it as we observ'd but now were those of St. Peters at Rome Works of Cypresse wood permanent ad diuturnitatem sayes Vitruvius l. 2. and the Poet perpetuâ nunquam moritura Cupresso Mart. E. 6.6 But to resume the disquisition whether it be truly so proper for Shipping is controverted though we also find in Cassiodorus Vor. l. 5. Ep. 16. that Theodoric caused store of it to be provided for that purpose and Plato who we told you made Laws and Titles to be Engraven in it nominates it inter Arbores 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 utilis l. 4. leg and so does Diodorus l. 19. And as Travellers observe there is no other sort of Timber fit for Shipping so frequent as this Tree about those parts of Assyria where the Ark is conjectur'd to have been built so as those vast Armadas that Alexander the Great caus'd to be Equipp'd and set out from Babylon consisted onely of Cypresse as we learn out of Arrian in Alex. l. 7. and Strabo l. 16. Paulus Colamenus in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 literaria cap. 24. perstringes the most Learned Is Vossius that in his Vindiciae pro LXX Interp. he affirms Cypresse not fit for Ships But besides what we have produc'd Fuller Bochartus c. Lilius Gyraldus lib. de Navig c. 4. and divers others sufficiently evince it and that the Vessel built by Trajan was of that material lasting uncorrupt near 1400 years when it was afterwards found in a certain Lake if it were not rather as I suspect that which Aeneas Silvius reports to have been discovered in his time lying under Water in the Numician Lake crusted over with a certain feruginous mixture of Earth and Scales as if it had been of Iron but it was pronounc'd to be Larix and not Cypress employ'd by Tiberius Finally not to forget even the very chips of this precious wood which gives that flavour to Muscadines and other rich Wines I commend it for the improvement of the Air and a specific for the Lungs as sending forth most sweet and aromatick emissions when ever it is either clipp'd or handled and the chips or cones being burnt extinguishes Moths and expells the Gnats and Flies c. not omitting the Gum which it yields not much inferiour to the Terbintine or Lentisc But Quid tibi odorato referam sudantia ligno if I forget 14. The Cedar which grows in all extreams In the moist Barbados the hot Bermudas the cold New-England even where the Snow lyes as I am assur'd almost half the year Why then it should not thrive in Old England I conceive is from our want of industry It grows in the Bogs of America and in the Mountains of Asia it seems there is no place affrights it I have frequently rais'd it of the Seeds which I set like the Bay-berries and we might have of the very best kind in the World from the Summer Islands though now almost utterly exhausted there also and so the most incomparable of that sacred wood like to be quite destroy'd by our negligence which is

Planter and dedication if Tradition hold of the famous English Bard Jeofry Chaucer of which one was call'd the Kings another the Queens and a third Chaucers Oak The first of these was fifty foot in height before any bough or knot appear'd and cut five foot square at the butt-end all clear Timber The Queens was fell'd since the Wars and held forty foot excellent Timber straight as an arrow in growth and grain and cutting four foot at the stub and neer a yard at the top besides a fork of almost ten foot clear timber above the shaft which was crown'd with a shady tuft of boughs amongst which some were on each side curved like Rams-horns as if they had been so industriously bent by hand This Oak was of a kind so excellent cutting a grain clear as any Clap-board as appear'd in the Wainscot which was made thereof that a thousand pities it is some seminary of the Acorns had not been propagated to preserve the species Chaucers Oak though it were not of these dimensions yet was it a very goodly Tree And this account I receiv'd from my most honour'd friend Phil. Packer Esq whose Father as now the Gentleman his Brother was proprietor of this Park But that which I would farther remark upon this occasion is the bulk and stature to which an Oak may possibly arrive within lesse then three hundred years since it is not so long that our Poet flourish'd being in the Reign of King Edward the fourth if at least he were indeed the Planter of those Trees as 't is confidently affirm'd I will not labour much in this enquiry because an implicit faith is here of great encouragement and it is not to be conceiv'd what Trees of a good kind and in apt soil will perform in a few years and this I am inform'd is a sort of gravelly clay moistn'd with small and frequent springs In the mean while I have often wish'd that Gentlemen were more curious of transmitting to Posterity such Records by noting the years when they begin any considerable Plantation that the Ages to come may have both the satisfaction and encouragement by more accurate and certain Calculations I find a Jewish tradition cited by the learned Bochart That Noah planted the Trees he supposes Cedars of which he afterwards built the Ark that preserv'd him But to proceed 13. There was in Cuns-burrow sometimes belonging to my Lord of Dover several Trees bought by a Couper of which he made ten pound per yard for three or four yards as I have been credibly assur'd But where shall we parallel that mighty Tree which furnish'd the Main-mast to the Sovereign of our Seas which being one hundred foot long save one bare thirty five inches diameter Yet was this exceeded in proportion and use by that Oak which afforded those prodigious beams that lye thwart her The diameter of this Tree was four foot nine inches which yielded four-square beams of four and forty foot long each of them The Oak grew about Framingam in Suffolk and indeed it would be thought fabulous but to recount only the extraordinary dimensions of some Timber-trees growing in that County and of the excessive sizes of these materials had not mine own hands measur'd a Table more then once of above five foot in breadth nine and an half in length and six inches thick all intire and clear This plank cut out of a Tree fell'd down by my Fathers order was made a Pastry board and lyes now on a frame of solid Brick work at Wotton in Surrey where it was so placed before the room was finish'd about it or wall built and yet abated by one foot shorter to confine it to the intended dimensions of the place for at first it held this breadth full ten foot and an half in length Mersennus tells us that the Great Ship call'd the Crown which the late French King caus'd to be built has its keel-timber 120 foot long and the Main-mast 12 foot diameter at the bottom and 85 in height 14. To these I might add that superannuated Eugh tree growing now in Braburne Church-yard not far from Scots hall in Kent vvhich being 58 foot 11 inches in the circumference will bear neer twenty foot diameter as it was measur'd first by my self imperfectly and then more exactly for me by order of the Right Honourable Sir George Carteret Vice-Chamberlain to his Majesty and late Treasurer of the Navy not to mention the goodly planks and other considerable pieces of squar'd and clear Timber which I observ'd to lye about it that had been hew'd and sawn out of some of the Arms only torn from it by impetuous winds Such another Monster I am inform'd is also to be seen in Sutton Church yard neer Winchester But these with infinite others which I am ready to produce might fairly suffice to vindicate and assert our Proposition as it relates to modern examples and sizes of Timber-trees comparable to any of the Ancients remaining upon laudable and unsuspected Record were it not great ingratitude to conceal a most industrious and no less accurate Accompt which comes just now to my hands from Mr. Halton Auditor to the Right Honourable the most Illustrious and Noble Henry Lord Howard of Norfolk In Sheffield Lordship 15. In the Hall Park neer unto Rivelin stood an Oak which had eighteen yards without bough or knot and carryed a yard and six inches square at the said height or length and not much bigger neer the root Sold twelve years ago for 11 li. Consider the distance of the place and Country and what so prodigious a Tree would have been worth neer London In Firth's Farme within Sheffield Lordship about twenty years since a Tree blown down by the wind made or would have made two Forge-hammer-beams and in those and the other wood of that Tree there was of worth or made 50 li. and Godfrey Frogat who is now living did oft say he lost 30 li. by the not buying of it A Hammer-beam is not less then 7½ yards long and 4 foot square at the barrel In Sheffield Park below the Manor a Tree was standing which was sold by one Giffard servant to the then Countess of Kent for 2 li. 10 s. to one Nich. Hicks which yielded of sawn Wair fourteen hundred and by estimation twenty Chords of wood A Wair is two yards long and one foot broad sixscore to the hundred so that in the said Tree was 10080 foot of Boards which if any of the said Boards were more then half-inch thick renders the thing yet more admirable In the upper end of Rivelin stood a Tree call'd the Lords-Oak of twelve yards about and the top yielded twenty one Chord cut down about thirteen years since In Sheffield Park An. 1646. stood above 100 Trees worth 1000 li. and there are yet two worth above 20 l. still note the place and market In the same Park about eight years ago Ralph Archdall cut a Tree that was

by Chr. Cilicus de Bello Dithmarsico l. 1. We have already mention'd Rebeccah and read of Kings themselves that honoured such places with their Sepulchres What else should be the meaning of 1 Chro. 10.12 when the valiant men of Jabesh interr'd the Bones of Saul and Jonathan under the Oke Famous was the Hyrnethian Caemeterie where Daiphon lay Ariadnes Tomb was in the Amathusian Grove in Crete now Candie For they believed that the Spirits and Ghosts of Men delighted to expatiate and appear in such solemn places as the Learned Grotius notes from Theophylact speaking of the Daemons upon Mat. 8 20. for which cause Plato gave permission that Trees might be Planted over Graves to obumbrate and refresh them Our Blessed Saviour chose the Garden sometimes for his Oratory and dying for the place of his Sepulchre and we do avouch for many weighty causes that there are none more fit to bury our Dead in than in our Gardens and Groves where our Beds may be decked with verdant and fragrant Flowers Trees and Perennial Plants the most natural and instructive Hieroglyphics of our expected Resurrection and Immortality besides what they might conduce to the Meditation of the living and the taking off our Cogitations from dwelling too intently upon more vain and sensual Objects that Custom of Burying in Churches and near about them especially in great and populous Cities being both a Novel Presumption undecent and very unhealthful 14. To make this Discourse the more absolute we shall add a short recital of the most famous Groves which we find Celebrated in Histories and those besides many already mention'd were such as being Consecrated both to Gods and Men bore their Names Amongst these are reckoned the Sacred to Minerva Isis Latona Cybele Osiris Aesculapius Diana and especially the Aricinian in which there was a goodly Temple erected placed in the midst of an Iland with a vast Lake about it a Mount and a Grotto adorn'd with Statues and irrigated with plentiful Streams and this was that renouned Recesse of Numa where he so frequently conversed with his Aegeria as did Minos in the Cave of Jupiter and by whose pretended Inspirations they gain'd the deceived People and made them receive what Lawes he pleas'd to impose upon them To these we may joyn the Groves of Vulcan Venus and the little Cupid Mars Bellona Bacchus Sylvanus the Muses and that neer Helicon from the same Numa their great Patron and hence had they their Name Camoenae In this was the noble Statue of Eupheme Nurse to those Poetical Ladies but so the Feranian and even Mons Parnassus were thick shaded with Trees Nor may we omit the more impure Lupercal Groves Sacred or Prophan'd rather yet most famous for their affording shelter and foster to Romulus and his Brother Rhemus That of Vulcan was usually guarded by Dogs like the Town of S. Malos in Bretaigne The Pinea Sylva appertain'd to the Mother of the Gods as we find in Virgil. Venus had several Groves in Aegypt and in the Gnidian Island where once stood those famous Statues cut by Praxiteles another in Pontus where if you 'll believe it hung up the Golden Fleece for the bold Adventurer Nor was the Watry-King Neptune without his Groves the Helicean in Greece was his So Ceres and Proserpine Pluto Vesta Castor and Pollux had such shady Places Consecrated to them add to these the Lebadian Arfinoan Paphian Senonian and such as were in general dedicated to all the Gods The Gods have dwelt in Groves Habitarunt dii quoque Sylva● And these were as it were Pantheons To the memory of famous Men and Heros were Consecrated the Achillean Aglauran and those to Bellerophon Hector Alexander and to others who disdained not to derive their Names from Trees and Forests as Sylvius the Posthumus of Aeneas divers of the Albanian Princes and great Persons Stolon Laura Daphnis c. And a certain Custom there was for the Parents to Plant a Tree at the Birth of an Heir or Son presaging by the growth and thriving of the Tree the prosperity of the Child Thus we read in the life of Virgil and how far his Natalitial Poplar had out-strip'd the rest of its Contemporaries And the reason doubtlesse of all this was the general repute of the Sanctity of those Places for no sooner does the Poët speak of a Grove but immediately some Consecration follows as believing that out of those shady Profundities some Deity must needs emerge Quo possis viso dicere Numen inest so as Tacitus speaking of the Germans sayes Lucos Nemora consecrant Deorumque nominibus appellant secretum illud quod solâ reverentiâ vident and the Consecration of these Nemorous places we find in Quintus Curtius and in what Paulus Diaconus de Lege relates of the Longobards where the Rites are expresse allur'd as 't is likely by the gloominesse of the Shade procerity and altitude of the Stem floridnesse of the leaves and other accidents not capable of Philosophising on the Physical Causes which they deem'd supernatural and plainly divine so as to use the words of Prudentius Here all Religion paid whose dark Recesse A sacred awe does on their mind impresse To their Wild Gods Quos penes omne sacrum est quicquid formid● trem●udu●● Suaserit horrificos quos prodigialia cogun● Monstra Deos L. 2. Cout Sym. And this deification of their Trees and amongst other things for their Age and perennial viridity sayes Diodorus might spring from the manifold use which they afforded and happly had been taught them by the Gods or rather by some God-like persons whom for their worth and the publick benefit they esteemed so and that divers of them were voyc'd to have been Metamorphoz'd from Men into Trees and again out of Trees into Men as the Arcadians gloried in their Birth when Out of the teeming Bark of Oakes men burst Géusque virûm truncis rupto robore nati which perhaps they fancied by seeing men creep sometimes out of their Cavities in which they often lodg'd and secur'd themselves For in th' Earths non-age under Heavens new frame They stricter liv'd who from Oaks rupture came Stapylton Quippe aliter tunc orbe novo coelòque recenti Vivebant homines qui rupto robore nati c. Juven l. 2. S. 6. Or as the sweet Papinius Fame goes that thou brake forth from the hard rind When the new earth with the first feet was sign'd Fields yet nor Houses doleful pangs reliev'd But shady Ash the numerous births receiv'd And the green Babe drop'd from the pregnant Elm Whom strange amazement first did over-whelm At break of day and when the gloomy night Ravish'd the Sun from their pursuing sight Gave it for lost Nemorum vos stirpe rigen●i Fama satos cum prima pedum vestigia tellus Admirata tulit nondum arva domúsque ferebant Cruda puerperia ac populos umbrosa creavit Fraxinus foetâ viridis puer excidit Orno Hi Lucis stupuisse vices