CHAP. cxin. CONI'FER^:. CE X DRUS. 2413 



of trees as Evelyn, and so anxious to introduce new and valuable sorts into 

 his native country, should have suffered " cones and seeds " of such a tree as 

 the cedar to be in his possession, without trying to raise young plants from 

 them ; particularly as he was a man of leisure, residing in the country, and 

 fond of trying experiments. (See Sir John Cullum's paper on this subject, in 

 the Gent. Mag. for March, 1779.) Supposing Evelyn to have raised plants 

 from his cones, the great cedar at Enfield may have been given by him to Dr. 

 Uvedale ; as Evelyn's Sylva was written in 1664, and Dr. Uvedale resided at 

 Enfield from 1665 to 1670 (see Hunter's Evelyn, ii. p. 3.) ; between which 

 years his cedar must have been planted. The story of the Enfield tree 

 having been brought by one of the doctor's pupils from Mount Lebanon 

 (p. 48.) rests solely on tradition ; like that of the Enfield and the Hendon 

 trees having been planted by Queen Elizabeth ; and, possibly, one tale is not 

 more worthy of credit than the other. Lord Holland is of opinion it was 

 introduced by his ancestor, Sir Stephen Fox. In a letter to us dated No- 

 vember 23. 1836, His Lordship mentions a cedar at Farley, near Salisbury, 

 the native village and burial place of Sir Stephen Fox, " the very first, I 

 believe, ever planted in England. It was standing in 1812, near the vault 

 of Sir Stephen Fox, who had imported it from the Levant; and who 

 planted other cedars in the gardens at Chelsea." The cedar at Farley, 

 His Lordship informs us in a subsequent letter, dated February 16. 1837, 

 was, when he saw it in 1812, " barked, and some part of it lopped, in prepara- 

 tion for the axe. It was nearly the largest in girt that I had ever seen, but 

 the branches, judging by what remained of them, did not grow boldly out 

 from the trunk, but were more perpendicular, or cypress or poplar-tree fash- 

 ioned, than is usual with cedars of Lebanon. That tree, or those at Chelsea 

 or at Chiswick, all, I believe, planted under Sir Stephen Fox's direction, were 

 unquestionably the first introduced into England. The circumstance is men- 

 tioned in Evelyn." We have not been able to find the passage alluded to. 

 The particulars of the tree at Farley, Lord Holland had the kindness to pro- 

 cure for us from Mr. Thomas Parsons, who had them from the person who cut 

 it down, and measured it. " He gave me," says Mr. Parsons, " the following 

 information. The tree was stripped of its bark in 1812; the next winter it 

 was grubbed down. He had 11. for grubbing it down. I do not know what 

 the expense of sawing off the root was. The expense of cutting the tree in 

 quarters, viz., two cuts as it lay, each 14ft. long, was 10/. The total 

 weight of the tree was above 13 tons, without the bark; all the wood at and 

 above 24 in. round included. All the rest went for firewood, of which there 

 was an immense quantity. I remember, a few years before it was cut, there 

 was a bough broken off by the weight of the snow. T. P. Farley, Feb. 

 2. 1837." According to a tradition in the family of Ashby, whose seat is at 

 Quenby Hall, in Leicestershire, one of the first cedars raised in England was 

 from seeds brought from the Levant by Mr. William Ashby, a Turkey mer- 

 chant, and given by him to his nephew George Ashby, Esq., called in his time, 

 and also on his monument, ' honest George Ashby, the planter,' who is 

 supposed to have planted the old cedar in front of Quenby Hall, between 

 1680 and 1690. (See Nicholas Hist. Lcicest.) William Ashby Ashby, Esq., 

 the present possessor of Quenby Hall, has kindly endeavoured to find 

 among his ancestor's papers some specific document respecting the intro- 

 duction of the cedar, but could give us nothing farther than the general 

 family tradition ; except that Evelyn is said to have paid a visit to Quenby. 

 The tree at Quenby Hall was, in 1837, 47 ft. high, the trunk 7 ft. 9 in. in cir- 

 cumference at 1 ft. from the ground, and the diameter of the head about 71 ft. 

 When first introduced, the cedar, being a native of the hot climate of 

 Syria, was supposed to be tender. Sir Hans Sloane, in a letter to Mr. Ray 

 dated March, 1684-5, says : " I was the other day at Chelsea, and find that 

 the artifices used by Mr. Watts have been very effectual for the preservation 

 of his plants ; insomuch, that this severe weather has scarce killed any of 

 his fine plants. One thing I much wonder to see, that the Cedrus Montis 



