Sylva, Vol. 1 (of 2)

J >> John Evelyn >> Sylva, Vol. 1 (of 2)

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

{Transcriber's note:

The spelling and punctuation in the original are idiosyncratic and
inconsistent. No changes have been made except as explicitly noted at
the end of this etext.

Greek has been transliterated and surrounded with ++: +Theos hylikos+.
{oe} ligatures have been unpacked. The ounce sign is represented by
{oz}.}

SYLVA: _OR A DISCOURSE
OF FOREST TREES & THE
PROPAGATION OF TIMBER_
_V O L U M E O N E_

{Illustration: _John Evelyn_
_From the engraving by R. Nanteuil_}

S Y L V A

_OR A DISCOURSE OF FOREST
TREES_: BY JOHN EVELYN F.R.S.
_WITH AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE
AND WORKS OF THE AUTHOR_
BY JOHN NISBET D.OEc.

A REPRINT OF THE FOURTH
EDITION IN TWO VOLUMES

VOLUME ONE

LONDON: PUBLISHED BY ARTHUR
DOUBLEDAY & COMPANY LIMITED
AT 8 YORK BUILDINGS ADELPHI

CONTENTS.

VOLUME I.

Introduction page ix
Title Page of 4th Edition " lxxiii
To the King " lxxv
To the Reader " lxxvii
Advertisement " xcix
Books published by the Author " ci
Amico carissimo " cii
Nobilissimo Viro " ciii
+EIS TEN TOU PATROS DENDROLOGIAN+ " cvi
The Garden.--To J. Evelyn, Esq. " cvii

BOOK I.

CHAPTER I. Of the Earth, Soil, Seed, Air, and Water " 1
" II. Of the Seminary and of Transplanting " 12
" III. Of the Oak " 30
" IV. Of the Elm " 62
" V. Of the Beech " 75
" VI. Of the Horn-beam " 81
" VII. Of the Ash " 86
" VIII. Of the Chesnut " 94
" IX. Of the Wallnut " 101
" X. Of the Service, and black cherry-tree " 111
" XI. Of the Maple " 115
" XII. Of the Sycomor " 121
" XIII. Of the Lime-Tree " 122
" XIV. Of the Poplar, Aspen, and Abele " 128
" XV. Of the Quick-Beam " 134
" XVI. Of the Hasel " 136
" XVII. Of the Birch " 140
" XVIII. Of the Alder " 155
" XIX. Of the Withy, Sallow, Ozier, and Willow " 159
" XX. Of Fences, Quick-sets, &c. " 175

BOOK II.

CHAPTER I. Of the Mulberry " 203
" II. Of the Platanus, Lotus, Cornus, Acacia, &c. " 214
" III. Of the Fir, Pine, Pinaster, Pitch-tree,
Larsh, and Subterranean trees " 220
" IV. Of the Cedar, Juniper, Cypress, Savine,
Thuya, &c. " 253
" V. Of the Cork, Ilex, Alaternus, Celastrus,
Ligustrum, Philyrea, Myrtil, Lentiscus,
Olive, Granade, Syring, Jasmine and other
Exoticks " 282
" VI. Of the Arbutus, Box, Yew, Holly, Pyracanth,
Laurel, Bay, &c. " 293
" VII. Of the infirmities of trees, &c. " 314

VOLUME II.

BOOK III.

CHAPTER I. Of Copp'ces page 1
" II. Of Pruning " 8
" III. Of the Age, Stature, and Felling of Trees " 24
" IV. Of Timber, the Seasoning and Uses, and of Fuel " 80
" V. Aphorisms, or certain General Precepts of use
to the foregoing Chapters " 130
" VI. Of the Laws and Statutes for the Preservation
and Improvement of Woods and Forests " 138
" VII. The paraenesis and conclusion, containing
some encouragements and proposals for the
planting and improvement of his Majesty's
forests, and other amunities for shade,
and ornament " 157

BOOK IV.

An historical account of the sacredness and use
of standing groves, &c. " 205

Renati Rapini " 269

INTRODUCTION.

I

_Evelyn & his literary contemporaries Isaac Walton & Samuel Pepys._

Among the prose writers of the second half of the seventeenth century
John Evelyn holds a very distinguished position. The age of the
Restoration and the Revolution is indeed rich in many names that have
won for themselves an enduring place in the history of English
literature. South, Tillotson, and Barrow among theologians, Newton in
mathematical science, Locke and Bentley in philosophy and classical
learning, Clarendon and Burnet in history, L'Estrange, Butler, Marvell
and Dryden in miscellaneous prose, and Temple as an essayist, have all
made their mark by prose writings which will endure for all time. But
the names which stand out most prominently in popular estimation as
authors of great masterpieces in the prose of this period are certainly
those of John Bunyan, John Evelyn, and Izaak Walton. And along with them
Samuel Pepys is also well entitled to be ranked as a great contemporary
writer, though he was at pains to try and ensure his being permitted to
remain free from the publicity of authorship, for such time at least as
the curious might allow his Diary to remain hidden in the cipher he
employed.

With the great though untrained genius of Bunyan none of these other
three celebrated prose authors of this time has anything in common. He
stands apart from them in his fervently religious and romantic
temperament, in his richness of representation and ingenuity of
analogy, and in his forcible quaintness of style, as completely as he
did in social status and in personal surroundings. In complete contrast
to the romantic productions of the self-educated tinker of Bedford, the
works of Walton and Evelyn were at any rate influenced by, though they
can hardly be said to have been moulded upon, the style of the preceding
age of old English prose writers ending with Milton. The influence of
the latter is, indeed, plainly noticeable both in the diction and in the
general sentiment of these two great masters of the pure, nervous
English of their period.

It would serve no good purpose to make any attempt here to trace the
points of resemblance between the works of Walton and Evelyn, and then
to note their differences in style. Each has contributed a masterpiece
towards our national literature, and it would be a mere waste of time to
make comparisons between their chief productions. This much, however,
may be remarked, that the conditions under which each worked were
completely different from those surrounding the other. Izaak Walton, the
author of many singularly interesting biographies, and of the quaint
half-poetical _Compleat Angler or the Contemplative Man's Recreation_,
the great classic "Discourse of Fish and Fishing," was a London
tradesman, while his equally celebrated contemporary John Evelyn, author
of _Sylva, or a Discourse of Forest Trees_, the classic of British
Forestry, was a more highly cultured man, who wrote, in the leisure of
official duties and amid the surroundings of easy refinement, many
useful and tasteful works both in prose and poetry, ranging over a wide
variety of subjects. Judging from the number of editions which appeared
of their principal works, they were both held in great favour by the
reading public, though on the whole the advantage in some respects lay
with Evelyn. But during the present century the taste of the public,
judged by this same rough and ready, practical standard, has undoubtedly
awarded the prize of popularity to Izaac Walton.

So far as the circumstances of their early life were concerned there was
greater similarity between Walton and Pepys, than between either of them
and Evelyn. Born in the lower middle class, the son of a tailor in
London, and himself afterwards a member of the Clothworkers' guild,
Pepys was a true Londoner. His tastes were centred entirely in the town,
and his pleasures were never sought either among woods or green fields,
or by the banks of trout streams and rivers. His thoughts seem often
tainted with the fumes of the wine-bowl and the reek of the tavern; and
even when he swore off drink, as he frequently did, he soon relapsed
into his customary habits. Educated in London and then at Cambridge,
where his love of a too flowing bowl already got him into trouble more
than once, he was imprudent enough to incur the responsibilities of
matrimony at the early age of twenty-three, with a beautiful girl only
fifteen years old. Trouble soon stared this rash and improvident young
couple in the face, but they were spared the pangs of permanent poverty
through the aid and influence of Sir Edward Montagu, afterwards Earl of
Sandwich, who was a distant relative of Pepys. Acting probably as
Montagu's secretary for some time, he was first appointed to a clerkship
in the Army pay office, and then soon afterwards became clerk of the
Acts of the Navy. Later on, like Evelyn, he held various more important
posts under the Crown, as well as being greatly distinguished by
promotion to non-official positions of the highest honour. His official
career was a very brilliant one, and deservedly so from the integrity of
his work, from his application, despite frequent immoderation in
partaking of wine, and from his business-like methods of work. As
Commissioner for the Affairs of Tangier and Treasurer, he visited
Tangier officially. He twice became Secretary to the Admiralty, and was
twice elected to represent Harwich in Parliament, after having
previously sat for Castle Rising. He was also twice chosen as Master of
the Trinity House, and was twice committed to prison, once on a charge
of high treason, and the other time (1690) on the charge of being
affected to King James II., upon whose flight from England Pepys had
laid down his office and withdrawn himself into retirement. Elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society in 1665, he attained the distinction of
being its President in 1684. He was Master of the Clothworkers' Company,
Treasurer and Vice-President of Christ's Hospital, and one of the Barons
of the Cinque Ports. In 1699, four years before he succumbed to a long
and painful disease borne with fortitude under the depression of reduced
circumstances, he received the freedom of the City of London,
principally for his services in connection with Christ's Hospital.

From the hasty sketch drafted in the above outlines, it will be seen
that throughout all Pepys' manhood the circumstances of his daily life
and environment were much more similar to those of Evelyn than to those
of Walton, who may well be ranked as their senior by almost one
generation. Like Evelyn, Izaak Walton was rather the child of the
country than a boy of the town. Born in Stafford in 1593, he only came
to settle in London after he had attained early manhood. Thus, though a
citizen exposing his linen drapery and mens' millinery for sale first in
the Gresham Exchange on the Cornhill, then in Fleet Street, and latterly
in Chancery Lane, the Bond Street of that time, he ever cherished a
longing for more rural surroundings and a desire to exchange life in the
city for residence in a smaller provincial town. On the civil war
breaking out in Charles the Ist's time, he retired from business and
went to live near his birth place, Stafford, where he had previously
bought some land. Here the last forty years of his long life were spent
in ease and recreation. When not angling or visiting friends, mostly
brethren of the angle, he engaged in the light literary work of
compiling biographies and in collecting material for the enrichment of
his _Compleat Angler_. Published in 1653, this ran through five editions
in 23 years, besides a reprint in 1664 of the third edition (1661).

In spite of the many similarities between Evelyn and Pepys as to
university education, official position, political partisanship, and
social and scientific status in London, there are yet such essential
differences between what has been bequeathed to us by these two friends
that comparison between them is almost impossible. They are both
authors: but it was by chance rather than by design that Pepys
ultimately acquired repute as an author, whereas Evelyn at once achieved
the literary fame he desired and wrote for. Neither of the two works
published by Pepys, _The Portugal History_ (1677) and the _Memories of
the Royal Navy_ (1690), procured for him the gratification of revising
them for a second edition, and it is indeed open to question if the
_Diary_ upon which his undying fame rests was ever intended by him to be
published after his death. This is a point that is never likely to be
settled satisfactorily. The fact of its having been written in cipher
looks as if it had been compiled solely for private amusement, and not
with any intention of posthumous publication; and this view is greatly
strengthened by the unblushing and complete manner in which he lays
aside the mask of outward propriety and records his too frequent
quaffing of the wine-cup, his household bickerings, his improprieties
with fair women, and his graver conjugal infidelities. The improprieties
of other persons, and especially those of higher social rank than
himself, might very intelligibly have been written in cipher intended to
have been transcribed and printed after his death; but it would be at
variance with human nature to believe that he could so unreservedly have
reduced to writing all the faults and follies of his life had even
posthumous publication of his _Diary_ been contemplated by him at the
time of writing it. For it is hardly capable of argument that, next to
the instincts of self-preservation and of the maintenance of family
ties, the desire to preserve outward appearances is undoubtedly one of
the strongest of human feelings; and this great natural law, often the
last remnant or the substitute of conscience, character, and
self-respect, is even more fully operative in a highly civilised than in
a savage or a semi-savage state of society. Of a truth, every human
being is more or less of a Pharisee with regard to certain
conventionalities of life. Complete disregard for the maintenance of
some sort of standard of outward appearances is the absolute vanishing
point of self-respect. Till that has been reached by any individual the
hope of his reformation is not lost, though at the same time successful
dissimulation makes the prospect of a turning point in a vicious career
but remote. Still, "it is a long lane that has no turning." It is
therefore most probable that the leaving behind of the key to the cipher
was rather due to inadvertence than to intention and design. And if this
view be correct, then Pepys' charming _Diary_ was the purely natural
outpouring of his mind without ever a thought being bestowed on
authorship and ultimate publication.

With Evelyn's _Diary_, however, it was different. Although it was not
published until 1818, and though it may never have been intended by its
writer to have been given to the world in book form, yet it was very
clearly intended to be an autobiographical legacy to his family. Hence
it is no mere outpouring of the spirit upon pages meant only for the
subsequent perusal of him who thus rendered in indelible characters his
passing thoughts of the moment. And this being the case, comparison
between the two Diaries would be just as unfair as it is unnecessary.
The one is the fruit of unrestrained freedom and a mirthful mind, while
the other is the product of cultured leisure and a refined literary
method. When Evelyn was Commissioner for the maintenance of the Dutch
prisoners (1664-70) he had frequent communications with Pepys, then of
the Navy, and there are special references to him in Evelyn's memoirs.
That an intimate friendship existed there is no doubt, and that they
each held the other in great respect as a man of intellect, as well as
of good business capacity, is equally clear. Thus, in June, 1669, he
encouraged Pepys to be operated on 'when exceedingly afflicted with the
stone;' and on 19 February, 1671, 'This day din'd with me Mr. Surveyor,
Dr. Christopher Wren, and Mr. Pepys, Cleark of the Acts, two
extraordinary ingenious and knowing persons, and other friends. I
carried them to see the piece of carving which I had recommended to the
King.' This was a masterpiece of Grinling Gibbon's work, which Charles
admired but did not purchase; so Gibbon not long after sold it for L80,
though 'well worth L100, without the frame, to Sir George Viner.' Evelyn
at this time got Wren, however, to promise faithfully to employ Gibbon
to do the choir carving in the new St. Paul's Cathedral.

Each of their Diaries teems with reference to the other. Pepys asked
Evelyn to sit to Kneller for his portrait which he desired for 'reasons
I had (founded upon gratitude, affection, and esteeme) to covet that in
effigie which I most truly value in the original.' This refers to the
well-known portrait, now at Wotton, that has been copied and engraved.

It appears to have been begun in October, 1685, but it was not till
July, 1689, that the commission was actually completed. The portrait
exhibits the face of an elderly man distinctly of a high-strung and
nervous temperament, though not quite to the extent of being 'sicklied
oer with the pale caste of thought.' His right hand, too, which grasps
his _Sylva_ is one very characteristic of the nervous disposition. A
bright, shrewd intellect, lofty thoughts, high motives, good resolves,
and--last, tho' by no means least--a serene mind, the _mens conscia
recti_ which Pepys bluntly called 'a little conceitedness,' are all
stamped upon his well-marked and not unshapely features. It is eminently
the face of a philosopher, an enthusiast, a studious scholar, and a
gentleman.

No one can ever know Evelyn so well as Pepys did; and here is his
opinion of John Evelyn, expressed in the secret pages of his cipher
Diary on November, 1665:--'In fine, a most excellent person he is, and
must be allowed a little for a little conceitedness; but he may well be
so, being a man so much above others.' And this just exactly bears out
the rough general impression conveyed by the perusal of Evelyn's Diary
and his other literary works. The long friendship of these two was only
terminated by the death of Pepys on 26th May, 1703, not long before
Evelyn had himself to depart from this life. 'This day died Mr. Sam.
Pepys, a very courtly, industrious and curious person, none in England
exceeding him in knowledge of the navy, in which he had passed through
all the most considerable offices, Clerk of the Acts and Secretary of
the Admiralty, all which he performed with great integrity. When King
James II., went out of England, he laid down his office and would serve
no more..... He was universally belov'd, hospitable, generous, learned
in many things, skilled in music, a very great cherisher of learned men
of whom he had the conversation..... Mr. Pepys had been for near 40
yeares so much my particular friend, that Mr. Jackson sent me compleat
mourning, desiring me to be one to hold up the pall at his magnificient
obsequies, but my indisposition hinder'd me from doing him this last
office.'

II

_Evelyn's Childhood, Early Education, and Youth._

The essential facts of Evelyn's life, as he himself would have us know
them, are set forth at full length in autobiographical form,
chronologically arranged in what is always spoken of as his _Diary_,
although evidently this was (much of it, at any rate) merely a
subsequent personal compilation from an actual diary, kept in imitation
of his father, from the age of 11 years onwards and down even to within
one month of his death in 1706.

The second son and the fourth child of Richard Evelyn of Wotton in
Surrey, and of his wife Eleanor, daughter of John Stansfield 'of an
ancient honorable family (though now extinct) in Shropshire,' he was
born at Wotton on 31st. October, 1620. His father, 'was of a sanguine
complexion, mixed with a dash of choler; his haire inclining to light,
which tho' exceeding thick became hoary by the time he was 30 years of
age; it was somewhat curled towards the extremity; his beard, which he
wore a little picked, as the mode was, of a brownish colour, and so
continued to the last, save that it was somewhat mingled with grey
haires about his cheekes: which, with his countenance, was cleare, and
fresh colour'd, his eyes quick and piercing, an ample forehead, manly
aspect; low of stature, but very strong. He was for his life so exact
and temperate, that I have heard he had never been surprised by excesse,
being ascetic and sparing. His wisdom was greate, and judgment most
acute; of solid discourse, affable, humble and in nothing affected; of a
thriving, neat, silent and methodical genius; discretely severe, yet
liberal on all just occasions to his children, strangers, and servants;
a lover of hospitality; of a singular and Christian moderation in all
his actions; a Justice of the Peace and of the Quorum; he served his
country as High Sheriff for Surrey and Sussex together. He was a
studious decliner of honours and titles, being already in that esteem
with his country that they could have added little to him besides their
burden. He was a person of that rare conversation, that upon frequent
recollection, and calling to mind passages of his life and discourse, I
could never charge him with the least passion or inadvertence. His
estate was esteem'd about L4,000 per ann. well wooded and full of
timber.' As for his mother, 'She was of proper personage; of a brown
complexion; her eyes and haire of a lovely black; of constitution
inclyned to a religious melancholy, or pious sadnesse; of a rare memory
and most exemplary life; for oeconomie and prudence esteemed one of the
most conspicuous in her Country.'

Apparently John Evelyn thought he had made a very judicious choice of
his father and mother when he wrote 'Thus much in brief touching my
parents; nor was it reasonable I should speake lesse to them to whom I
owe so much.'

These passages, occurring in the first two pages of his _Diary_ serve at
once to illustrate a very characteristic feature of Evelyn's mind, and
one that is everywhere discernible in his writings. He was a man with a
highly cultured and a very well balanced mind, but he was somewhat
inclined to exaggerate; and he certainly had the rather enviable gift of
considering everything pertaining to him, or approved or advocated by
him, as very superior indeed. All his eggs had two yolks, and all his
geese were swans. What he liked, he _loved_; and what he did not like,
he _hated_. There was no golden mean with him; he was either very
optimistic or else intensely pessimistic. Hence, naturally, he gave hard
knocks to those who differed from him in opinion, and particularly after
the Restoration; for he was one of the most expressive among King
Charles II's courtiers. Direct evidence of this special temperament was
characteristic of Evelyn throughout all his life, and was of course
particularly noticeable in his writings, as we shall subsequently see.
It is therefore only to be expected that he prized his father's little
estate of Wotton in Surrey as one of the finest in the kingdom. 'Wotton,
the mansion house of my Father, left him by my Grandfather, (now my
eldest Brother's), is situated in the most Southern part of the Shire,
and though in a valley, yet really upon part of Lyth Hill one of the
most eminent in England for the prodigious prospect to be seen from its
summit, tho' of few observed. From it may be discerned 12 or 13
Counties, with part of the Sea on the Coast of Sussex, in a serene day.
The house is large and ancient, suitable to those hospitable times, and
so sweetly environed with those delicious streams and venerable woods,
as in the judgment of Strangers as well as Englishmen it may be compared
to one of the most tempting and pleasant Seats in the Nation, and most
tempting for a great person and a wanton purse to render it conspicuous.
It has rising grounds, meadows, woods, and water in abundance. The
distance from London (is) little more than 20 miles, and yet (it is) so
securely placed as if it were 100; three miles from Dorking, which
serves it abundantly with provisions as well of land as sea; 6 from
Guildford, 12 from Kingston. I will say nothing of the ayre, because the
praeeminence is universally given to Surrey, the soil being dry and
sandy: but I should speak much of the gardens, fountains, and groves
that adorne it, were they not as generally knowne to be amongst the most
natural, and (till this later and universal luxury of the whole nation,
since abounding in such expenses) the most magnificent that England
afforded, and which indeed gave one of the first examples to that
elegancy since so much in vogue, and followed in the managing of their
waters, and other ornaments of that nature. Let me add, the contiguity
of five or six Mannors, the patronage of the livings about it, and, what
is none of the least advantages, a good neighbourhood. All which
conspire to render it fit for the present possessor, my worthy Brother,
and his noble lady, whose constant liberality give them title both to
the place and the affections of all that know them. Thus, with the poet,

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31