INTRODUCTION Ixxi 



on this occasion, still the spirit breathing throughout the 

 exhortion was the revivification of Evelyn's influence. And 

 the same must also be said about the article on London s 

 c Trees and Shrubs' (Quarterly Review; October, 1838), 

 which opens with a eulogy of our great English enthusiast 

 of Arboriculture. * The good and peaceful John Evelyn was 

 a great benefactor to England. He was a country gentleman 

 of independent fortune ; he held an office under Government ; 

 and was personally familiar with Charles II. and James II ; 

 yet, in spite of the influence which he then possessed, his 

 example effected little for his favourite object till the public- 

 ation of the Syha. Half the charm of this work lies in his 

 contriving to make us feel interested about his trees ; he 

 gossips about them, he tells us where they came from and 

 what they are used for, and has a few marvels not of his 

 own but told with such perfect good faith that we can hardly 

 help believing them with him. This was the secret by which 

 he managed to attract the attention of even the wits and 

 gallants of c the gay court ; ' and thus it was that he gave an 

 impulse to planting those c goodly woods and forests, ' the 

 absence of which, in his own time, he so feelingly laments, 

 and which now crown our hills and enrich our valleys. 

 Mr. Loudon has followed Evelyn's track. Tradition 

 history poetry anecdote enliven his pages ; the reader soon 

 feels as if his instructor were a good natured and entertaining 

 friend. He has also not contented himself with merely 

 recalling old favourites to our memory, but has introduced 

 to us numerous agreeable foreigners whose acquaintance we 

 ought to rejoice to make, since by their aid we may hope, in 

 the course of another half century, to see our woods and 

 plantations presenting the richness and variety of the American 

 autumns, the trees which produce those ' lovely tints of 

 scarlet and of gold, ' of which travellers tell us, are all to be 

 obtained at moderate cost in every nursery ; and that they 

 will thrive perfectly in this country Fonthill and White 

 Knights bear ample testimony. ' 



Hardly anything can well be added to the above testimony 

 regarding Evelyn's influence on Arboriculture throughout 

 the British Isles. Economic conditions have changed entirely 

 since his time, but the spirit living and breathing in Syha is 



