CHAP, in S Y L V A 45 



of oak, fir, beech, birch, &c. and erected a stone with 

 this inscription, (which I mention not for its elegancy, 

 but example) an. dom. 1580, quercus^ abietes, betulas^ 

 &c. plantavit : annum & initium sationis adscribi jussit ; 

 ut earum aetatem exploraret posteritas ; quod in omnia 

 orbis saecula aeternae Divinitati commendat ; as I find it 

 recorded by that industrious geneologist, Scipio 

 Amiratus of Florence. But the only instance I know 

 of the like in our own country, is in the Park at 

 Althorp in Northamptonshire, the magnificent seat 

 of the Right Hon. the Earl of Sunderland. I find a 

 Jewish tradition, cited by the learned Bochart, that 

 Noah planted the trees (he supposes cedars) of which 

 he afterwards built the Ark that preserved him : Nor 

 was it esteem'd any diminution for princes themselves 

 to plant trees with that hand which held the scepter 

 and reins of empire : So as in the Voorhout of the 

 Hague, stands a tree plac'd there by the hands of the 

 Emperor Charles, which is yet in its prime growth, 

 and no small boast of the good people : But to 

 proceed. 



13. There was in Cuns-burrow (sometimes belong- 

 ing to my Lord of Dover) several trees bought by 

 a cooper, of which he made ten pound per yard for 

 three or four yards, as I have been credibly assur'd: 

 But where shall we parallel that mighty tree which 

 furnish'd the main-mast to the sovereign of our seas, 

 which being one hundred foot long save one, bare 

 thirty five inches diameter. Yet was this exceeded 

 in proportion and use, by that oak which afforded 

 those prodigious beams that lie thwart her. The 

 diameter of this tree was four foot nine inches, which 

 yielded four square beams of four and forty foot long 

 each of them. The oak grew about Framlingham 



