INTRODUCTION Ixv 



posthumously as Memoirs illustrative of the Life and Writings 

 of John Evelyn Esqre. F.R.S. in 1 8 1 8. This has gone through 

 nine editions and reprints ; and it affords, along with Pepys' 

 diary, one of the best views of the life of those times. Each is 

 the complement of the other, and the only matter of regret is 

 that the original manuscript of Evelyn's actual diary has not 

 hitherto been forthcoming, as it would be infinitely preferable 

 to the compilation he made therefrom, which often refers to 

 future events. Other of his MSS. appeared us Miscellaneous 

 Writings of John Evelyn Esq. F.R.S. in 1825, The Life of Mrs. 

 Godolphin (see page xlv) in 1 847, and subsequently in five 

 or six editions and reprints, and The History of Religion : A 

 Rational Account of the True Religion in 1 8 50. Of these the 

 so-called Diary is by far the most interesting and important, 

 and it is on it and on the Sylva that his literary reputation 

 rests and has a sure and abiding foundation. 



VIII 



Evelyn's Influence on British Arboriculture. 



There can be no doubt that John Evelyn, both during his 

 own lifetime and throughout the two centuries which have 

 elapsed since his death in 1706, has exerted more individual 

 influence, through his charming Sy/va, or a Discourse of Forest 

 Trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesty's Dominion 

 (first published in 1664) than can be ascribed to any other 

 individual. The attention drawn to the subject of Arbori- 

 culture by Dr. Hunter towards the end of the eighteenth 

 and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries was in connect- 

 ion with several new editions of that classic work, while the 

 impulse given to the formation of large plantations between 

 1800 and 1830 by Sir Walter Scott and the celebrated 

 Quarterly Review aricles was connected very closely indeed 

 with the appearance of fresh editions of Sylva. 



It is easy to understand the success of Evelyn's work and 

 the influence he exerted on British Arboriculture. First 

 and foremost, he held the brief in an excellent cause, 

 because the maintenance of adequate supplies of oak timber 



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