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Show 224 A Difcourfe of Foreft-Trees. Chap.XXXIV, 28. And whatif forthis putpofe there were yet fome additional Office Conftituted, which fhould have a more univerfal InfpeGion , and the charge ofall the Woods and Foreffs in His Majefties Dominions? This might eafily be perform’d by Deputies in every County; Perfons judicious , and skilful in Husbandry ; and who might be repair’d to for advice and dire@tion : Andif fach there are at prefent (asindeed our Laws feem to provide J that their Power be fufficiently amplified where any thing appears deficient ; and as their zeal excited by worthy encouragements, fo might neglects be encounter’d by a vigilant and induftrious Cheque, It fhould belong to their Province, to fee that fuch Proportions of Timber, Gc, were Planted, and fet out upon every hundred, or more of Acres, asthe Honourable Commilfioners have fuggefted 5 or, as might be thought convenient, the quality, and nature of the places prudentlyconfider'd + It fhould be their Office alfo, to take notice of the growth, and decay of Woods, and oftheir fitnefs for publick #/es and fale, and of all thefe to give Advertifements , that all defect in their ill governing may be {peedily remedied ; and the Superiour Officer , or Surveyor, fhould be accomptable to the Lord Trea/urer , and to the principal Officers of his Majefties Navy for the time being : And vvhy might not fuch a Regulation be vvorthy the eftablithing by fome Solemn, and publick AG of State, becoming our glorious Prince, SOVEREIGN OF Ghap. XXXV, 4 isaright noble, and Royal undertaking; as that of the Fo: ref? of Dean, ec. in particular ( were it bravely Imperial defign 5 and 1 do pronounce it more worth manag'd ) an whotruly confults his glory in the higheft Znteref y of a Prince; ? of his SubjeFs than that ofgaining Battels, or fubduing a Province : And if in faying fo, or anythingelfe in this ruftic Difcour fe, I have us’'d the freedom ofa plain Foreffers it is the Perfor you command mete put on, and my pleais ready, Apuis mapovens, was dyhp Euatui]as. Prafente Quereu, ligna quivis coliigit, for who could have fpoken lef upon fo ample a Subje% 2 and therefore hope myzea/ for it in thefe Papers, will ( befides your Injun@ions) excule the prolixity of this Digreffion y and all other the Lwperfeitions of myServices. Si canimus Sylvas, Sylve fumt Confule digne, THE SEAS, and his prudent senate, this prefent Parlia- CHAP. XEXV, ment ¢ 29. Wefind in Ariffotles Politics , the Conftitution of Exctraur- ban Magifiratesto be Sylvarum Cuffodes 5 and fuch vvere the Con- Sulares Sylve, vvbich the great Cesar himfelf (evenin atime vvhen Italy did abound in Timber ) Inftituted ; and vvas one of the very firft things vvhich he did, at the fetling of that valt Empire, after the Civil VVars had exceedingly vvafted the Cx untrey : Snetoniwsrelates it in the Life of Julius; and Peter Crinitus in his fifth Book De honefta difciplina , ¢. 3, gives this reafon for it, Ut mate: ries (faithhe ) non deeffet, qua videlicet Navigia publica poffent & prefediuris fabrum, confici : True it is, that this Office vvas fome- times call'd Provincia minor ; but for the moft part, annex'd, and joyn'd to fome ofthe greateft Confuls themfelves 3 that facetious Jarcafme of the Comedian (vvhere Plautus names it Provincia dicaria) referring onely to fome under Officer , fubfervient cauto the other: And fuch a Charge is at this day extant amongft the noble Venetians, vvho have near Trivift ( befides vvhat they nourifh in other places) a goodlyForeft of Oaks, preferv'd asa Femel, forthe onely w/e of the Arfenal, calld the Agentello, vvhich is in length twelve Ailes, large five, and near twenty miles in compafle 3 care- fully fuperviled bya certain Officer, vvhom they name#/ Capitano; and vve might In/fance in manyother prudent States ; not to importune you vvith the expreiie Laws vvhich Ancus Adartius the Nephevv of Numa,and otherPrinces long beforec éfar, did ordain for this very purpofe 5 fince indeed, the care of {co publick, and honourable A Difcourfe of Forett-Trees; honourable an Enterprize as is this of Planting, and Tuproving of Woods * An Hiftorical Account of the Sacredneffe , and Ue of flanding Groves, 8c. I. Nd thushave wefinifh’d what we efteemed neceffary for the Direction of Planting, and the Culture of Trees and Woods in general; whether for the raifing of xew, or prefervati« on ef the more Antient and venerable jhades, crowning the browsoflofty Hil/s, or furnifhing, and adorn ing the morefruit- ful and humblePlains ; Groves and Forefts, fuch as were never Prophan’d bythe Inhumanity of Edge-tools : Woods, whole Original are as unknownas the Arcadians ; like the goodly Cedars of Libanws , Pfal.ic4. Arbores Dei according to the Hebrew, for fomething doubtlefle which they noted in the Genius of thofe Venerable places be\ides their meer bulk and Stature ly, I cannot think to have well acquitted my felf : And veriof SubjeG.till | hall have in fome fort vindicated the honou this ufeful r of Trees, and Woods, by fhewing my Reader of what Eftima tion they were ofold for their Divine, as well as Gil Ujes 5 at leaft refreth both Him,and my Self, with what occurs of Hiftorical and Inftru ctive amongft the Learned concerning them, 2; Though |