a question of
very serious national importance right down to the time when this
pressure was removed by the introduction of steam communication and the
use of Indian Teak and subsequently of iron for purposes of
construction. Then again, his position as a courtier and a country
gentleman, and as one of the most prominent members of the recently
established Royal Society, gave him a much higher degree of prominence
than such adventitious aids would ensure in our present far more
democratic days. Finally, he had no small confidence in his own ability
('conceit' his friend Mr. Samuel Pepys calls it in his diary); and this
has been recognised in the numerous editions of _Sylva_ that have from
time to time been found worthy of publication.

Although by far the most celebrated of English writers on Arboriculture,
Evelyn was by no means the first who wrote on this subject. That honour
belongs to Master Fitzherbert, whose _Boke of Husbandrie_ was published
in 1534. But it is a curious fact that the most important previous
contribution towards the propagation of timber--leaving Manwood's
_Treatise of the Forrest Lawes_ (1598) out of consideration--is
apparently never mentioned by Evelyn. This was a small booklet of 34
pages, a mere pamphlet in size, published in 1613 by Arthur Standish and
entitled _New Directions of Experience ... for the Increasing of Timber
and Firewood_. In this, Standish strongly urged sowing and planting on
an extensive scale; and the pamphlet was so highly approved by King
James I., that in 1615 a second edition was issued. This included, among
the prefatory matters, a royal proclamation 'By the King, To all
Noblemen, Gentlemen, and other our loving Subjects, to whom it may
appertaine,' which set forth the 'severall good projects for the
increasing of Woods' and recommended them to 'be willingly received and
put in practise' with a view to restore the decay of timber 'universally
complained of' within the realm.

Although exhortations and royal proclamations had previously been issued
more than once by James I. relative to the 'storing' of timber trees
when falls were being made in copsewoods, and generally to ensure better
effect being given to the intentions of Henry VIII's _Statute of Woods_
of 1543, as amended during Queen Elizabeth's reign (in 1570), yet
Standish's treatise was the first occasion (so far as I have been able
to discover) on which a private subject had endeavoured to stimulate the
pr