628 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1701. 



the oaks in the clay ; and I have observed the same in multitudes of places of 

 these commons. 



Thus, as all those great and stately trees flourished here, and composed one 

 of tlie largest and most beautiful forests in all the country ; so in the next 

 place, I shall inquire how it came to be destroyed, and for what reason and 

 causes it was so. All this may be known by searching into the ancient Roman 

 writers and historians : who frequently tell us, when their armies and generals 

 pursued the wild Britons, that they always fled into the fastnesses of miry 

 woods and low watery forests. Caesar himself confesses the same, and says, 

 that Cassibelen and his Britons, after their defeat passed the Thames, and fled 

 into such low morasses and woods, that there was no possibility of following 

 them. We also find that the stout nation of the Silures did the same, when 

 they were set upon by Ostorius and Agricola. The like did Venutius king of 

 the Brigantes, who fled into the great woody morasses of this country, and 

 perhaps into those very same that formerly overspread these levels. And Hero- 

 dian plainly tells us, that it was the custom of the wild Britons to keep in the 

 fenny bogs and thick marshy woods, and when opportunity ofi^ered to issue out 

 and fall upon the Romans, who were at length so plagued with them, that they 

 were forced to issue out orders for the destroying and cutting down of all the 

 woods and forests in Britain, especially of all those that grew upon low grounds 

 and morasses. This order, I think, is mentioned in Vopiscus ; and that they 

 were thereupon accordingly cut down, is evident from many writers, who tell 

 us, that when Suetonius Paulinus conquered Anglesea, he cut down all the 

 woods there. Galen tells us, that the Romans kept their soldiers continually 

 employed in cutting down woods, draining marshes and fens, and in paving 

 bogs. It is also manifest, that they not only did this themselves, but also 

 imposed the same heavy task on captive Britons ; for Galgacus, in his speech 

 to his soldiers, tells them, that the Romans made slaves of them, and wore 

 out their bodies in cutting down woods, and in cleansing bogs, amidst a thou- 

 sand stripes and indignities ; and Dion Cassius tells us, that the Emperor Se- 

 verus lost 50,000 of his men in a few years time, in cutting down the woods, 

 and cleansing the fens and morasses of the country. 



Now all that has been said may I think sufiiciently prove, that the Romans 

 were the destroyers of all those great woods and forests, which we now find 

 under-ground in the bottoms of moors and bogs; and that they actually were 

 in this part of the country, and destroyed this great and beautiful one, of 

 stately firs, that overspread all those vast levels, and the country round about, 

 I come now more particularly to show and prove. 



The common road of the Romans out of the south into the north, was for- 



