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sharpen every man his tools; for as they said, lest the 

 Hebrews make them swords, or spears ; so these, lest 

 the English build them ships, and men of war : 

 Whether this were so, or not, certain it is, we cannot 

 be too jealous for the preservation of our woods ; and 

 especially of those eminent, and with care, inex- 

 haustible magazines. In the Duke of Luxemburg's 

 country, no farmer is permitted to fell a timber-tree 

 without making it appear he hath planted another. 

 And we have already mention'd that inviolable custom 

 about Frankford, where the young farmer must 

 produce a certificate of his having set a number of 

 walnut-trees, before he have leave to marry : But of 

 these, and the like, v. Foliar in Constit. Rey. de Offic. 

 Tract. 11, 92,93, &c. I dare not suggest the en- 

 couragement of a yet farther restraint, that even 

 proprietors themselves should not presume to make 

 havock of some of their own woods, to feed their 

 prodigality, and heap fuel to their vices ; but it is 

 worthy of our observation, that (in that inimitable 

 oration, the second Philippic) Cicero does not so 

 sharply reproach his great antagonist for any other 

 of his extravagancies (which yet he there enumerates) 

 as for his wasteful disposure of certain wood-lands 

 belonging to the Commonwealth, amongst his jovial 

 bravo' V, and lewd companions ; tua ista detrimenta sunt 

 (meaning his debauchees) ilia nostra ; speaking of the 

 timber : And doubtless, the spoil and wasting of this 

 necessary material is no less than a publick calamity ; 

 this, John Duke of Lancaster knew well enough, when 

 to revenge the depradations made upon the English 

 borders, 'tis said, he set four and twenty thousand 

 axes at work at once, to destroy the woods in Scotland. 

 7. But to the laws : It were to be wish'd that our 



