Introducers of Exotic Flowers, ete. 137 
Had Evelyn only composed the great work of his 
“Sylva, or a Discourse of Forest Trees,’ &c., his name 
would have excited the gratitude of posterity. The voice 
of the patriot exults in the dedication to Charles II. pre- 
fixed to one of the later editions. “I need not acquaint 
your majesty, how many millions of timber-trees, besides 
infinite others, have been progagated and planted through- 
out your vast dominions, at the instigation and by the sole 
direction of this work, because your majesty has been 
pleased to own it publickly for my encouragement.” And 
surely while Britain retains her awful situation among the 
nations of Europe, the “Sylva” of Evelyn will endure with 
her triumphant oaks. It was a retired philosopher who 
aroused the genius of the nation, and who casting a pro- 
phetic eye towards the age in which we live, has contributed 
to secure our sovereignty of the seas. The present navy 
of Great Britain has been constructed with the oaks which 
the genius of Evelyn planted! 
Animated by a zeal truly patriotic, De Serres in France, 
in 1599, composed a work on the art of raising silk-worms, 
and dedicated it to the municipal body of Paris, to excite 
the inhabitants to cultivate mulberry-trees. The work at 
first produced a strong sensation, and many planted mul- 
berry-trees in the vicinity of Paris; but as they were not 
yet used to raise and manage the silk-worm, they reaped 
nothing but their trouble for their pains. They tore up 
the mulberry-trees they had planted, and, in spite of De 
Serres, asserted that the northern climate was not adapted 
for the rearing of that tender insect. The great Sully, 
from his hatred of all objects of luxury, countenanced the 
popular clamour, and crushed the rising enterprise of De 
Serres. The monarch was wiser than the minister. The 
book had made sufficient noise to reach the ear of Henry 
IV., who desired the author to draw up a memoir on the 
subject, from which the king was induced to plant mul- 
berry-trees in all the royal-gardens; and having imported 
the eggs of silk-worms from Spain, this patriotic monarch 
gave up his orangeries, which were but his private gratifi- 
cation, for that leaf which, converted into silk, became a 
part of the national wealth. It is to De Serres, who intro- 
duced the plantations of mulberry-trees, that the commerce 
of France owes one of her staple commodities; and 
although the patriot encountered the hostility of the prime 
minister, and the hasty prejudices of the populace in his 
own day, yet his name at this moment is fresh in the hearts 
NEW SERIES.—VOL. I. M 
