The Quercus and Fagus of the Ancients. 9 



landscape, there must be one portion of the scene, in which there 

 is no limit to the eye, but the horizon. But on this subject more 

 hereafter. There are many suburban villas on flat surfaces, where 

 the exterior country would form a tolerable distance, provided 

 it could be seen from the principal floor of the house ; but, as 

 the house is very frequently built without much reference to the 

 future effect of the grounds, the error of not raising the living- 

 floor considerably above the surface is undiscovered till it is 

 too late. 



We regret to observe that the engraver has not been so 

 successful in his views of Mount Grove as he commonly is ; a 

 circumstance partly to be accounted for, from the difficulty in 

 representing on wood that aerial perspective which is necessary 

 to give distance, more especially where a great many objects are 

 crowded together in the same view. 



Art. II. Some Enquiry concerning the Quercus and Fagus of the 

 Ancients. By H. L. Long, Esq. 



*' Sprengelio omnino assentior, ' omnem plantarum a scriptoribus seriorum 

 saeculorum cognitionem a Theophrasto et Dioscoride proficisci debere.' 

 Quantopere ergo dolendum est, nomina in eorum scriptis occurrentia plan- 

 tarum, de quibus adhuc parum constat, alienis promts, imo novi orbis indigenis 

 temere imposita esse." * — Stackhouse, Prcef. in Theophrast., part ii. 



A love of the vegetable creation, particularly as exhibited in the sublime 

 beauties of the forest, has been so generally diffused among mankind, that we 

 may safely ascribe it to the influence of some instinctive principle in our na- 

 ture. Perhaps, like parental tenderness which protects the helpless offspring 

 from destruction, it has been wisely ordained that an interest beyond mere 

 considerations of profit should be felt for the production and preservation of 

 trees, in order that the fostering care of man should compensate in some degree 

 for the inroads he is constantly obliged to make upon the woodlands, both in 

 the extended application of the soil to agriculture, and in the continued un- 

 avoidable consumption of materials so essential to his wants. In early ages, 

 this feeling led to the sanctity and deification of groves, whose shades inspired 

 a religious awe ; and in our own time it gives rise to some of the purest enjoy- 

 ments of nature, and spreads itself daily wider and wider in connexion with 

 the progress of refinement. This love of trees, together with an acquaintance 

 with their history, their properties, and their uses, has an existence totally inde- 

 pendent of a knowledge of botany ; were it not so, an essay like the present 

 would never have been attempted. A real knowledge of the science of botany 

 is confined to a select few, to whom, as to their masters, the uninitiated, the 



# " I entirely agree with Sprengel, that ' all the knowledge of plants to be 

 found in the books of later authors has flowed from the writings of Theo- 

 phrastus and Dioscorides.' How greatly, then, is it to be lamented, that 

 names occurring in the works of these ancient masters of the science, should 

 be applied to plants altogether different from any which they could have con- 

 templated, and some even to natives of countries undiscovered for many 

 ages after their death." 



