es._ Virg.

* * * * *

_LONDON_:

Printed for _Robert Scott_ in _Little-Britain_; _Richard Chiswell_ in
St. _Paul's_ Churchyard; _George Sawbridge_ in _Little-Britain_; and
_Benj. Tooke_ in _Fleetstreet_. MDCCVI.

TO THE
KING.

For to whom, _Sir_, with so Just and Equal Right should I present the
Fruits of my Labours, as to the _Patron_ of that _SOCIETY_, under whose
_Influence_, as it was produced; so to whose _Auspices_ alone it owes the
Favourable _Acceptance_ which it has receiv'd in the World? To You then
(_Royal Sir_) does this _Third Edition_ continue its Humble Addresses,
_Tanquam MEMORUM VINDICI_; as of old, they paid their Devotions,{lxxv:1}
_HERCULI & SILVANO_; since You are our +Theos hylikos+ _Nemorensis Rex_;
as having once Your _Temple_, and _Court_ too, under that _Sacred Oak_
which You _Consecrated_ with Your _Presence_, and we _Celebrate_, with
Just Acknowledgment to God for Your _Preservation_.

I need not Aquaint Your _Majesty_, how many _Millions_ of _Timber-Trees_
(beside infinite _others_) have been _Propagated_ and _Planted_ throughout
Your vast _Dominions_, at the _Instigation_, and by the sole _Direction_
of this _Work_; because Your _Gracious Majesty_, has been pleas'd to _own_
it _Publickly_, for my _Encouragement_, who, in all that I here pretend to
say, deliver only those _Precepts_ which Your _Majesty_ has put into
_Practice_; as having (like another _Cyrus_) by Your own _Royal Example_,
exceeded all your _Predecessors_ in the _Plantations_ You have made,
beyond (I dare assert it) all the _Monarchs_ of this _Nation_, since the
_Conquest_ of it. And, indeed what more _August_, what more _Worthy_ Your
_Majesty_, or more becoming our _Imitation?_ than whilst You are thus
solicitous for the _Publick Good_, we pursue Your _Majesty's_ Great
_Example_; and by cultivating our decaying _Woods_, contribute to Your
_Power_, as to Your greatest _Wealth_ and _Safety_; since whilst Your
_Majesty_ is furnish'd to send forth those _Argo's_ and _Trojan
Horses_,{lxxvi:1} about this Happy _Island_, we are to fear nothing from
_without it_; and whilst we remain _Obedient_ to Your just _Commands_,
nothing from _within_ it.

'Tis now some _Years_ past that Your _Majesty_ was pleas'd to declare Your
Favourable Acceptance of a _Treatise_ of _Architecture_ which I then
presented to _You_, with many _Gracious Expressions_, and that it was a
most _useful_ Piece. _S