Under fuch circumftances it was impoffible that the art of gardening could make any confiderable advances in Ireland. The hand of rapine restrained it; and the church, whofe fanctity alone could protect it, took little pains to facilitate its progrefs. We are, therefore, naturally furprised to find the Brehons promulgating laws to protect ornamental as well as ufeful trees. As thefe laws are extremely curious, and ferve to afcertain the feveral kinds of trees cultivated by the early Irish, I fhall make no apology for tranfcribing them here.

"What are the timber trefpaffes? Cutting down trees and taking them away; as airigh timber, athar timber, "fogla timber, and lofa timber.”

66

Airigh timber are, oak, hazle, holly, yewf, Indian pine and apple; five cows penalty for cutting down thefe trees; yearling cow-calves for cutting the limbs; and heifers for cutting the branches.

Athar wood are, aldar, willow, hawthorn, quickbeam, birch, elm ; a cow for each tree, a heifer for the branches.

NOTE S.

Colle&. de Reb. Hib. vol. iii. p. 72. The paffage deferves to be confulted, as it fhews the nature of the fence in use amongft the Irish in the primitive ages.

f I am induced to conclude that the Yew tree did not formerly (at least during the middle ages) abound in Ireland, from the circumftance of an act being ordained in 12 Edw. iv. to oblige all merchants who imported goods into this kingdom to import, at the fame time, a certain number of bows, which can only be properly made of this wood. Yet yew trees, fo large as thirty inches in diameter, are frequently found in our bogs.

8 This must have been the witch hazle, commonly called the Scotch elm; for the lofty elm now in ufe for groves, and in the last century for avenues, was introduced by the English. An elm of this genus, of an immenfe fize, which grew near Newbridge in the county of Kildare, and whofe leafy honours I remember to have feen laid in the duft by a great form, is thus celebrated by the

Fogla wood are, blackthorn, elder, fpindle-tree, white hazel, afpen; these are the woods on which the law gives trefpafs, viz. a heifer for each.

Lofo wood (or fire-wood), fern, furze, briar, heath, ivy, reeds, thornbuth; a fine on each .

I am furprised to obferve the arbutus omitted amongst the feveral trees enumerated in thefe laws, as it is allowed by Evelyn to be indigenous to Ireland. But

NOTE S.

reverend Samuel Shepherd, in his poem of Leixlip:

Mark where yon Elm renews his annual prime,

Newbridge thy glory, and the boaft of time;

From age to age he looks majestic down,

Spreads his broad arms, and covers half the town.

Collect. de Reb. Hib. vol. iii. p. 77, 78, 79: We are not to be furprised at the feveral forest trees mentioned in thofe laws, for Ireland, though now almoft totally denuded of woods, once abounded in them. Vide Nat. Hift. of Irel. by Boate and Molyneux. Taffo fpeaks of " l'alte felve," of Ireland. Gieru. Lib. cant. 1.

I cannot here omit a pertinent paffage in a letter which I lately received from my friend, Sylvefter O'Halloran, Efq; "That different and various fpecies of Fir (fays he) were kept in high prefervation (in Ireland), I know, and every curious man may know, from the bog deal ufed in the country for lighting fires, and fometimes by the poor as a fuccedaneum for candles. You will find them of various fmells, fome of them yielding aromatic odours equal to thofe of the most precious balfams."

i Sylva, p. 177. Mr. Leflie, in his poem of Killarney, bestows feveral lines on the Arbutus, as a native of this romantic fpot, and concludes his defcription thus:

But it was probably then confined to the diftrict of Killarney, where it wasted

"its fweetness on the defart air,"

poem, or work of fancy that has fallen under my obfervation, have I difcovered a defcription of, or even an allufion to a garden; nothing but fuch natural objects, uncombined by art, as abound in

ens.

From the complexion of the code whence I have extracted thofe laws, I am induced to think that the church was concerned in its formation; for though the primitive christian clergy did not often exercife their influence in promoting the arts, they feldom forgot to employ it in the protection of their property. I am the rather confirmed in this opinion by finding a nursery belonging to the priory of Kilmainham fo early as the year 1338; for this nursery, it appears, flood without the walls, fo that it required the protection of the fecular laws k.

If hiftoric evidence concerning our early ancestors' ignorance of, or inattention to the art of gardening, was wanting, negative proofs of both might be deduced from their poets'. In no ancient Irish

NOTE S.

While other tribes but tranfient charms affume, Thefe through Killarney's wilds perennial bloom.”

I think it is conjectured by Derrick (fee his Letters), and with plausibility, that the Arbutus was brought from the Continent to Killarney by fome of the monks who fettled in its islands.

k Monast. Hib. p. 234.

Since writing the above I have found mention of gardens in an ancient inedited code of Brehon laws, ordained for the protection of Bees, which were, I find, deemed the most valuable part of the property of the early Irish. I will tranfcribe two of thofe laws :

"Whoever plunders or steals Bees from out of a garden or fort is fubject to a like penalty as if he steal them out of a habitation, for thefe are ordained of equal penalty by law."

found in the productions of our early bards; all their feenery is wild and romantic as that of Salvator Rofa ". Nor indeed do the Irish poets of the last century often refort to the garden for imagery, for as yet gardens did not abound in Ireland; my memory, at prefent, affords me but two inftances, which I fhall give in the elegant tranflation of Mifs Brooke. The unfortunate Edmund Ryan, who was involved in the miseries which enfued to fuch of his country. men as joined the forces of King James at the battle of the Boyne, thus fings to his falfe mistress:

"Icones Plantarum Syriæ rariorum De fcriptionibus et Obfervationibus illustrate. Autore Jacobo Juliano la Billardiere, M. D." 410. Lut. Paris. 1791. Decas prima et fecunda. 135. Imported by R. E. Mercier.

UR ingenious author, having bota

nized through Dauphiny and Savoy, refolved to fee what plants and trees could be introduced into France, and what place fupplied the best timber for fhipbuilding. He paffed from Marfeilles to Alexandria, and from thence penetrated Syria. On the mountains near Damafcus he difcovered many rare plants, but Mount Libanus he was refolved more minutely to fcrutinize. Its perpendicular altitude above the furface of the fea he found to be 712 toifes. Snow does not continue all the year on the fummit, but is feen in vallies on the north fide.

The inhabitants about the cedars are Maronites; the reft are Greeks, Curds, Metualides, and Drufes. Of the old wood of Libanus not more than one hundred cedars remain; they are on the acclivity of the mountain, 500 toifes below the fnowy fummits; feven are remarkably large, being nine feet diameter. Very honourable teftimony is given to this work, by the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris; and, in our opinion, it very well deferves it. The figures are drawn and engraven with the greateft exactness; and the defcription includes every part of the vegetable.

The first decad contains engravings and defcriptions of the following plants:

Crucianella capitata,
Ruta fruticulofa.
Dianthus Libanotis.
Prunus proftrata.
Fontanelia phillirocoïdes,
Vicia canefcens.