CHAP, iv S Y L V A 89 



soft woods ; I had lately an organ with a sett of 

 oaken-pipes, which were the most sweet and mellow 

 that were ever heard ; It was a very old instrument, 

 and formerly, I think, belonging to the Duke of 

 Norfolk. We shall say nothing of the other various 

 uses of timber superstitiously mention'd, when we 

 find they might not carve the statues of the pagan 

 gods of every sort of wood, ne quovis ex ligno fiat 

 Mercurius ; but of this by the way. 



14. For the place of growth, that timber is esteem'd 

 best which grows most in the sun, and on a dry and 

 hale ground ; for those trees which suck, and drink 

 little, are most hard, robust, and longest liv'd, 

 instances of sobriety. The climate contributes much 

 to its quality, and the northern situation is preferred 

 to the rest of the quarters ; so as that which grew in 

 Tuscany was of old thought better, than that of the 

 Venetian side ; and yet the Biscay timber is esteemed 

 better than what they have from colder countries : 

 And trees of the wilder kind, and barren, than the 

 over-much cultivated, and great bearers : But of this 

 already. 



i 5. To omit nothing, authors have summ'd up the 

 natures of timber ; as the hardest ebony, box, larch, 

 lotus, terebinth, cornus^ yew, &c. and though these 

 indurated woods be too ponderous for ship-carpentry ; 

 yet there have been vessels built of them by the 

 Portuguezes in America ; in which the planks, and 

 innermost timbers had been saw'd very thin for light- 

 ness sake, and the knee-timber put together of divers 

 small pieces, by reason of the inflexibleness of it, both 

 which could not but render the ships very weak : 

 In the mean time, the perfection of these hard 

 materials consists much in their receiving the most 



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