S I L V A. 



DENDROLOGIA. 



BOOK THE FOURTH. 



An Historical Account of the SACREDNESS and USE of 



STANDING GROVES. 



And thus we have finished what we esteemed necessary for the direc- BOOK. IV. 

 tion of planting, and the culture of trees and woods in general ; whether 

 for the raising of new, or preservation of the more ancient and venerable 

 shades, crowning the brows of lofty hills, or furnishing and adorning the 

 more fruitful and humble plains, groves, and forests, such as were never 

 profaned by the inhumanity of edge-tools : woods, whose original are 

 as unknown as the Arcadians ; like the goodly Cedars of Libanus, 

 Psalm civ. Arhores Dei, according to the Hebrew, for something, doubt- 

 less, which they noted in the genius of those venerable plants, besides 

 their mere bulk and stature : and, verily, I cannot think to have well 

 acquitted myself of this useful subject, till I shall have, in some sort, vin- 

 dicated the honour of trees and woods, by shewing my reader of what 

 estimation they were of old for their divine, as well as civil uses ; or at 

 least refreshed both him and myself with what occurs of historical and 

 instructive amongst the learned concerning them. And first, standing 

 woods and forests were not only the original habitations of men, for de- 

 fence and fortresses, but the first occasion of that speech, polity, and 

 society Avhich made them differ from beasts. This, the architect 

 Vitruvius * ingeniously describes, where he tells us, that the violent per- ^* vitmv. i.ii. 

 cussion of one tree against another, forced by an impetuous wind, setting 

 them on fire, the flame did not so much surprise and affright the salvage 



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