286 



A DISCOURSE 



BOOK III. the honourable the principal officers and commissioners of the navy, I 

 ^^"^'"^''^^ am advised by such as are every way judicious, and of long experience 

 in those parts, that to inclose would be an excellent way : but it is to be 

 considered, that the people, viz. foresters and bordurers, are not gene- 

 rally so civil and reasonable as might be wished ; and therefore to design 

 a solid improvement in such places, his majesty must assert his power, 

 with a firm and high resolution to reduce these men to their due obedi- 

 ence, and to a necessity of submitting to their own and the public utility, 

 though they preserved their industry this way, at a very tolerable rate, 

 upon that condition ; while some person of trust and integrity did regu- 

 late and supervise the mounds and fences, and destine some portions, 

 frequently set apart, for the raising and propagating of wood, till the 

 whole nation were furnished for posterity. 



Which work, if his majesty shall resolve to accomplish, he will leave 

 such an everlasting obligation on his people, and raise such a monument 

 to his fame, as the ages for a thousand years to come shall have cause to 

 celebrate his precious memory, and his royal successors to emulate his 

 virtue. For thus (besides the future expectations) it would, in present, 

 be no deduction from his majesty's treasure, but some increase, and fall 

 in time to be a fair and worthy accession to it ; while this kind of pro- 

 priety would be the most likely expedient to civilize those wild and poor 

 bordvirers, and to secure the vast and spreading heart of the forest, 

 which, with all this indulgence, would be ample enough for a princely 

 demesne : and if the difficulty be to find out who Jcnows or acJenowleclges 

 what are the bordures, this article were worthy and becoming of as 

 serious an inquisition as the legislative power of the whole nation can 

 contrive. 



The sum of all is, get the hordures well tenanted, by long terms and 

 easy rents, and this will invite and encourage takers ; whilst the middle, 

 most secure, and interior parts would be a royal portion. Let his ma- 

 jesty, therefore, admit of any willing adventurers in thisvast circle for such 

 inclosures in the precinct ; and rather of more, than of few, though an 

 hundred or two should join together for any inclosure of five hundred 

 acres, more or less; that multitudes being thus engaged, the consideration 

 might procure and facilitate a full discovery of latter encroachments, and 

 fortify the recovery by favourable rents, improvements, and reversions by 



