A Difconrfe of Foreft-Trees. 8^ 



There were ofthe/ri? of thefe divers which meafur'd in lengtH 

 one hundred and thirty tmofoot^ fold lately in Effex : And in the 

 Manor of Horton (to go no farther then the Parijh of Bbjham in 

 Surrey, belonging to my Brother Richard Evelyn Efq.) there are 

 Elms now ftanding in good numbers, which will bear almoft three 

 foot fquare for more then forty foot in height, which is (in my 

 judgement) a very extraordinary matter. They grow in a moift 

 Gravel, and in the Hedge-roves. 



Not to infift upon Beech, which are frequently very large ^ there 

 are Oaks of forty foot high :^~and five foot diameter yet flouriftiing 

 in divers old Vark^ of our Nobility and Gentry. 



A large and goodly O^j^ there is at Reedham in Sir Richard Eer- 

 neys Park of Norfolk , which I am inform'd was valu'd at forty - 

 pounds the 7z/»^er, and twelve pounds the lopping wood. 



12. Nor are we to over-pafsthofe memorable Trees which fo 

 lately flouriflied in Bennington Tark^ neer Newberry : amongft 

 which three were moft remarkable from the ingenious Planter, 

 and dedication (if Iradition hold^ the famous Epglifh Bard, Jeofiy 

 Chaucer-^ of which one was call'd the K/wg/, another the ^ee»x, 

 and a third Chaucers-Oak: The fir^ of thefe was fifty foot in 

 height before any /»tfKg^ or )^«tf* appear'd, and cut five foot fquare 

 at the butt end, all clear Timber. The ^eens was fell'd fince the 

 fVars, and held forty foot excellent Timber, ftraight as an arrow 

 in growth and grain, and cutting four foot at the Jtub, and neer a 

 yard at the top ; befides a fork of almoft ten foot clear timber 

 above the (haft, which wascrown'd with a ftiady tujioi boughs, 

 amongft which, fome were on each fide curved like Rams-horns^ 

 as if they had been fo induftrioufly bent by hand. This Oak^wzs 

 of a kind fo excellent, cutting a grain clear as any Clap-board (as 

 appear'd in the Wainfcot which was made thereof ) that a thoufand 

 pities it is {omejeminary of the Acornshad not been propagated, 

 to prcferve the.fpecies. Chaucer s Oak^, though it were not of 

 thefe dimenfions, yet was it a very goodly Tree ; And this ac- 

 count I receiv'd from my moft honoured friend Phil. Packer Efq. 

 whofe Father (as now the Gentleman his Brother) was proprietor of 

 th\s Park,: But that which I would farther remark, upon this oc- 

 cafion, is, the bulk, sit\djiature to which an 0^;^ may pofiibly ar- 

 rive within lefs then two hundred year, fince it is not fo long that 

 our Poet flourifh'd (hc'mg'm the Reign of Ring Edi^ard the fourth) 

 if at leaft he were indeed the Planter of thofe Trees, as 'tis confi- 

 dently afiirm'd. I will not labour much in this enquiry '■, becaufe 

 an implicit faith is here of great encouragement 5 and it is not to 

 beconceiv'd whatTreexof a goodkind, andapty^//, will perform 

 in a few years ^ and this (I am inform'd) is a (oxtoi gravelly clay 

 moiftn'd with finall and frequent fprings. 



13. There was in Cuns-burrow (fometimes belonging to my 

 Lord of Dpver ) fevcral Trees bought of a Confer, of which he 

 made ten pound per yard' for three or four yards, as I have beert 

 credibly afliir'd : But where (hall we parallel that mighty Tree 

 which furnifh'd the AJain-ma§i to the Sovereign oi oxxi Seas ^ which 



N 2 • being 



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