INTRODUCTION lix 



unhealthy smell, and therefore by Hypocrates utterly con- 

 demned near great cities) but such blossom-bearing brain as 

 send forth their virtue at farthest distance, and are all of them 

 marketable at London ; by which means, the aer and winds 

 perpetually fann'd from so many circling and encompassing 

 hedges, fragrant shrubs, trees and flowers, (the amputation 

 and pruning of whose superfluities may in winter, on some 

 occasions of weather and winds, be burnt, to visit the city 

 with a more benign smoak,) not onely all that did approach 

 the region which is properly design'd to be flowery ; but 

 even the whole City would be sensible of the sweet and 

 ravishing varieties of the perfumes, as well of the most 

 delightful and pleasant objects and places of recreation for 

 the inhabitants ; yielding also a prospect of a noble and 

 masculine majesty, by reason of the frequent plantations cf 

 trees, and nurseries for ornament, profit, and security. 



The remainder of the fields included yielding the same, 

 and better shelter, and pasture for sheep and cattle then 

 now ; that they lie bleak, expos'd and abandon'd to the 

 winds, which perpetually invade them. 



That, to this end, the gardiners (which now cultivate 

 the upper, more drie, and ungrateful soil), be encouraged 

 to begin plantations in such places onely : and the further 

 exorbitant encrease of tenements, poor and nasty cottages 

 near the City, be prohibited, which disgrace and take off from 

 the sweetness and amoenity of the environs of London, and 

 are already become a great eye-sore in the grounds opposite 

 to his Majesty's Palace of White-hall ; which being converted 

 to this use, might yield a diversion inferior to none that 

 could be imagin'd for health, profit, and beauty, which are 

 the three transcendencies that render a palace without all 

 exception. 



And this is what (in short) I had to offer, for the im- 

 provement and melioration of the Aer about London, and 

 with which I shall conclude this discourse. 



