CHAP. Il. BRITISH ISLANDS. 95 
not have been the first that were brought into the country. The 
Tilia europza, or common lime tree of the north of Europe, 
is stated by Turner and Gerard to be a native of England; but 
Ray says, that, though it is an inhabitant of Essex, it is never 
found in that county, or anywhere else, growing wild, The 
Tilia parvifolia, Ray seems to consider as a native. 
The box is one of our most interesting ‘ disputed trees ;” 
for, if we are deprived of that and of the yew, neither of which 
Daines Barrington will allow us, our only evergreen trees 
will be the Scotch pine and the holly. Ray says that * the box 
grows wild on Box Hill, hence the name: also at Boxwell, on 
Cotswold in Gloucestershire, and at Boxley in Kent, where 
there were woods of this tree, according to Aubrey. It grows 
plentifully on the chalk hills near Dunstable.” ‘Turner says, 
“it groweth on the mountains in Germany plentifully, wild, 
without any setting; but in England it groweth not by itself in 
any place that I know, though there is much of it in England.” 
(Herbal, edit. 1551, p. 159.) Parkinson says it is found in 
many woods, and that it is also planted in orchards. Evelyn 
considers it a native, as does Lambarde, in his Perambulations 
of Kent, in 1576. Some curious controversial matter on this 
subject will be found in the Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. lvii., for 
1787. One writer, T. H. White (p. 667.), says, “ he called at 
the village of Boxley, and that, from the strictest enquiries, he 
was thoroughly convinced that Evelyn was wrong in considering 
the box to grow wild at this village.” It has been said that 
the Earl of Arundel, who died in Italy in 1646, planted the bex 
trees on Box Hill, with a view to building a house there; but this 
is denied by another writer, S. H., in the same magazine. “The 
Earl of Arundel,” this-writer says, ‘‘ was a very curious man; and, 
having a house very near, at Dorking, it has been conjectured, 
but without foundation, that he planted Box Hill. The ground 
on which the box trees grow,” he continues, “ was not His Lord- 
ship’s property ;” and this is confirmed by a passage in Manning 
and Bray’s Surrey, where that part of the hill which is covered 
with the trees is proved to have belonged to Sir Matthew Brown, 
long before the date when they were said to have been planted 
by the earl. ‘ Various have been the disquisitions,” say these 
authors, ‘‘ concerning the antiquity of this plantation, which, 
however, for aught that has hitherto appeared to the contrary, 
may have been coeval with the soil. Here was formerly also a 
warren, with its lodge; in a lease of which, from Sir Matthew 
Brown to Thomas Constable, dated 25th August, 1602, the 
‘tenant covenants to use his best endeavours for preserving the 
yew, box, and all other trees growing thereupon; as also to 
deliver, half-yearly, an account of what hath been sold, to whom, 
and at what prices; and in an account rendered to Ambrose, 
