316 A DISCOURSE 



BOOK III. cipal officers, and commissioners of the royal navy, tliat where such 

 '""^"^^^^ improvements may be made, they be speedily and vigorously prosecuted ; 

 and where any defects appear, they may be duly reformed. 



-And what if, for this purpose, there were yet some additional office 

 constituted, which should have a more universal inspection, and the 

 charge of all the woods and forests in his majesty's dominions ? this 

 might easily be performed by deputies in every county ; persons ju- 

 dicious and skilful in husbandly, and who might be repaired to for ad- 

 vice and direction : and if such there are at present, (as indeed our laws 

 seem to provide,) that their power be sufficiently amplified where any 

 thing appears deficient ; and as their zeal might be excited by wortliy 

 encouragements, so might neglects be encountered by a vigilant and 

 industi'ious check. It should belong to their province to see that sucli 

 proportions of timber, &ic. were planted and set out upon every hun- 

 dred, or more of acres, as the honourable commissioners have suggested ; 

 or as might be thought convenient, the quality and nature of the places 

 De coiiegiis prudcutly considered. It should be their office, also, to take notice of 

 to'naHorum^^et the gTowtli aud dccay of woods, and of their fitness for public uses and 

 J^m^ NavHia- salc, and of all these to give advertisements, that all defect in their ill 

 erdL'^et cLdi- govcrniug may be speedily remedied; and the superior officers or surveyor 

 Sn^' extanfin- should be accountablc to the lord treasurer, and to the principal officers 

 Li>iu°ri'n^ii^^ of majesty's navy for the time being. And why might not such a 

 qud^s" Bwl'o regulation be worthy the establishing by some solemn and public act of 

 mersium Brfxi. state, bccoming our glorious prince, SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS ' 



anor. Comen- o o i. ' 



slum, Lugdu- and his prudent senate, the present parliament ? 



nens. Arari- 

 corum et Rho- 

 danicor. Eo- 



rumque corpo- But to shcw how this xilotrophiaB studium for the preservation of 



rum et colle- 



giorura patro- tuTiber was lionourcd, 



nis curatoribus. 

 Vide etiam 



We find in Aristotle's Politics, the constitution of extra-urban ma^i- 



1 1 111 f 1 » la fj 1ST* 



Ravennat. Item stratcs to be s'llvarum custodes ; and such were the consulares silvce, which 



de Deiidropho- ' 



dos^iib" i^etTi great Csesar himself (even in a time when Italy did abound in timber) 

 iisdcm verbis instituted : and was one of the very first things which he did, (at the set- 



inscript : Mu- JO ' \ 



risot. Orb. Ma- tliuff of that vast empire,) after the civil wars had exceedingly wasted 



rit. lib. i. cap. . 



xxiv. the country. Suetonius relates it in the Life of Julius ; and Peter Crinitus, 



in his fifth book De Honesta Disciplina, cap. iii; gives this reason for it, Ut 

 materies, saith he, non deesset, qua videlicet, natigia puUica possent a prce^ 

 fecturisfabrum, confici. True it is, that this office was sometimes called 



