96 



A DISCOURSE 



BOOK r. long before they come to any considerable stature, (for such places, and 

 "■^^^^ all sorts of clay, is held but a step-mother to trees,) but in time they 



afford the most excellent timber, having stood long, and got good footing. 



The same may we affirm of the lightest sand, which produces a smoother- 



Fisher received a summons to attend a Committee of the House of Commons, before 

 ■whom he gave a faithful narrative of what he personally knew of the then scarcity 

 of Oak-timber. In consequence of his examination, and other informations exhibited 

 by creditable dealers in wood, an act was obtained to encourage the growth of timber 

 upon commons and waste lands : But how far the inclinations of the people have co-operated 

 with the wisdom of the legislature, I am unable to determine. 



As an inducement to raise plantations of useful timber, I shall here observe, that many 

 of the ships which gave laws to the whole world in the last wax*, were constructed from 

 Oaks planted soon after the publication of Mr. Evelyn's Silva; and I flatter myself that 

 the present Republication will be the means of raising the same virtuous and patriotic spirit. 

 We have just before us a princely example: His present Majesty has, with royal 

 munificence, ordered a nursery, consisting of twenty acres of land, to be formed upon 

 the forest of Knaresborough, to which the tenants of the crown are to have unlimited access 

 for the purpose of supplying themselves ( gratis ) with young Oaks, and all sort of trees 

 proper for the forest. 



It is remarkable that the Oak was held sacred by the Greeks, the Romans, the Gauls, 

 and Britons. Among the Romans this tree was dedicated to Jupiter, as we are informed 

 by Pliny : " Arborum genera numinibus suis dicata perpetuo servantur, ut Jovi Esculus." 

 By the Britons it was held in great veneration ; and some of the most solemn ceremonies 

 of the Druids were held under its sacred shade. The ceremony of cutting the mistletoe 

 is circumstantially described by Caesar, Tacitus, and Pliny. 

 The acorns, produced by the different species of Oaks, are supposed to have constituted 

 part of the food of mankind in the early ages of the world. Lucretius, speaking of 

 the first age, says, 



Glandiferas inter curabant corpora quercus 



Plerumque. ■ lib. v. ver. 937. 



Virgil celebrates Ceres for having first taught mankind how to grow com for food : 



Prima Ceres ferro mortales vertere terram 

 Instituit : cum jam glandes atque arbuta sacrae 



Deficerent sylva;, et victum Dodona negaret. georg. i. 147. 



And in consequence of this great obligation, the Roman husbandmen, before they began 

 their harvest, always crowned their heads with wreaths of Oak in honour of Ceres : 



' Neque ante 



Falcem maturis quisquam supponat aristis, 

 Quam Cereri, torta redimitus tempora quercu, 



Det motus incompositos, et carmina dicat. georg. i. 347. 



