INTRODUCTION lix 



and converse in London, pursu'd and haunted by that infernal 

 Smoake, and the fimest accidents which accompany it 

 wheresoever they retire. ' 



Surely, if John Evelyn could in spirit revisit the metro- 

 polis he loved so well and was so much at home in, he 

 would, while lamenting the continuation and the now much 

 more acute form of the " infernal Nuisance ", to a certainty 

 find ample cause for rejoicing at the admirable work of late 

 years carried out in the London Royal Parks and Pleasure 

 Grounds, and in the Parks and Open Spaces under the 

 administration of the County Council. 



It was in 1664, however, that Evelyn achieved his greatest 

 literary triumph by the publication of his three masterpieces, 

 Syha : or a Discourse of Forest Trees, and the Propagation of 

 Timber in His Majestic 's Dominions ; Pomona : or an Appendix 

 concerning Fruit Trees in relation to Cider, the Making and 

 several ways of Ordering it ; and Kalendarium Hortense : or 

 the Gardeners Almanack, directing what he is to do Monthly 

 throughout the Tear. ' 



The manner in which the idea of the Syha originated is 

 clearly shewn by what is noted in his Diary on I5th 

 October, 1662. <I this day deliver'd my " Discourse con- 

 cerning Forest Trees " to the Society, upon occasion of 

 certain queries sent to us by the Commissioners of his 

 Majesties Navy, being the first booke that was printed by 

 order of the Society, and by their printer, since it was a 

 Corporation. ' This latter reference evidently anticipates 

 events, as one often had reason to note in this so-called diary, 

 because Sylva was not actually published until the beginning 

 of 1664, when along with it were included Pomona, and the 

 Kalendarium Hortense. In February, 1 664, * 1 6th. I presented 

 my " Sylva " to the Society ; and next day to his Majestic, 

 to whom it was dedicated ; also to the Lord Treasurer and 

 the Lord Chancellor. ' 



There is no doubt that Syha was a work of national 

 importance. Then, as now, England was dependent on her 

 Navy. But the stock of Oak timber suitable for the require- 

 ments of the naval dockyards had become almost exhausted. 

 From a tonnage of 17,1 10 tons in 1603, our fleet had risen 

 to 57,463 tons in 1660, and during the 25 years of Charles IPs 



