Now no body hath hitherto known what use to put those Woods unto; such Woods as are not too far off from Cities or Villages, do Men make use of for building, for firing, for boiling, or brewing, and for baking, and other occasions, so that the Wood which is daily used, and every year fetch’d from the bordering Woods or Forests, is thereby saved from rotting and being spoiled.
But as for such wood as is in Mountains and Woods scituated far off from mens dwellings, and which are not frequented, that is not of any use at all, they are Dens and lurking places for cruel Beasts, as Bears and Wolves; which said wild beasts do annoy and hinder other profitable ones, as Staggs, Does, Boars, Hoggs, Sheep, &c. from feeding on the wild Fruits of such places. But who is there will amend it, and bring such places to a due or good use? What! should such vast Woods, which are the receptacle of those cruel wild Beasts be cut down and lie a rotting, or be consumed by Fire, so to destroy those wild beasts? Surely no body will attempt it, as fearing the toilsomness requisite hereunto: And besides, forasmuch as no other profit is to be thereby expected, save an extirpation of those wild beasts, there’s no body will take that Task upon him. Nor is it a thing so behoveful to Fire, and burn down such huge Woods, as we read in History, that some have heretofore done, viz. most great Woods have been burnt, meerly to destroy Insects and other hurtful, wild, and ravenous beasts. There is an hazard run in so doing, for such a Fire may spread wider, and do a great deal of mischief.
There are such Examples which may be produced, which witness how that Fire being put to Heaths, have (by burning thereof) crept into the bordering Woods and destroyed them, and mightily injured the neighbouring Inhabitants: And therefore ’tis not so advised a Work to consume Woods by Fire; and to cut them down, that so they may lie and rot, and be thereby rooted out, cannot be done, because of the great costs thereto requisite.
So that such places must of necessity even remain the Receptacles of hurtful Beasts and Thieves; for albeit that sometimes the Glass-makers do in suchlike places build their Furnaces or Glass-houses, yet they fall far short of consuming so much Wood by their making of glasses, for those Woods are scarce the thinner or lesser for that: Tho’ they spend daily in every such Glass-house twenty loads, yet such a vast quantity as that is, will not decrease. Besides, the Glass-men do not use all the wood without making any difference, but make choice of the streightest and smoothest wood, such as they may best and easiest cleave: As for shrubs and knotty Oaks and Beach, those they touch not. So then the best Trees only are used about their Glass Works, and the brushy woods, as Briars, Thorns, &c. and which are the most commodious hiding places for the wild Beasts, are unmeddled withal, as being unprofitable for the Glass-makers: Nay, they let most curious arms or branches of Beach lie a rotting, and make use only of the body of the Trees. Moreover, in such Woods as are far off, the Glass-makers build no Houses, but do erect them as near as possible they can, to such places as are inhabited, because they must of necessity have commerce with men.
Farther, ’tis not a little wood that is spent in the Mines about Metals, especially in such Mines where Iron is molten; but what we said but now touching the Glassmen, the same is to be observed here; for such metal-melting Houses are never erected on the high Mountains, or are built in far remote Woods, because they must have the assistance of Men, and water to drive their bellows-mills, and besides the place must be such, as that all Necessaries may be brought them in Waggons, and their Iron transported into the Cities or Towns. Nor do the Metal-melters indifferently use any wood they meet with; nor make they their Charcoals of every kind of wood, but leave the shrubs and bushy woods as unfit for coaling. And therefore those great and vast woods, tho’ there be Glass-houses and Metal-melting-shops in many places, do remain untouch’d, because no body knows the use of them.
But now, forasmuch as I have all my life-time most accurately search’d by a diligent observation into the wonders of God, and have not spared any labour or costs about the secret wonders of Nature, and have learned from Nature her self, my instructing Mistriss, that God being a true and just Lord over his Family, did neither do, make, or create ought without certain and just causes, which notwithstanding is not regarded by the most part of us men, who imitate the irrational beasts, and alwaies live without the knowledge of God and of His Works. Verily, we have no colour of Reason at all for it, not considering that men were created and appointed by God for another-guise end, than the brute beasts, which are void of all Reason; and we regard not the Truth of that old Saying, God and Nature never make any thing in vain.
So then, whereas this is a Truth (as assuredly it is) certainly we may see that these huge Woods were not in vain made, but that they have some benefit (for so they have) viz. a most great Treasure for such who know it, and know how to use it. Which I will therefore shew, as clear as the Noon-day Sun, and will so set it afore the eyes of the blind and darksom world, that the Deriders and Contemners of natural Philosophy, such as is to be Learned only by the fire, and not out of Aristotle, may be even enforced, will they, nill they, to confess and grant that the Fire is the true Teacher and Master of natural Arts, and so will be; for whosoever they be that are Ignorant as to the Fire, and that know not its wonderful efficacy, tho’ they may be most skilful Proficients in foreign Tongues or Languages (which in the more-secret Philosophy makes not at all to any purpose); yet nevertheless they will not be able to accomplish any the least matter in things of so great a moment: I do therefore say, that such men as are skilled in natural things, are not of right to be contemned, or secretly back-bitten by those who say, Believe not such a man that hath not attained the empty vain Title of a Doctor in the Universities. I confess ingeniously, that I never frequented the Universities, nor ever had a mind so to do; for should I have so done, haply I should never have arrived to that knowledge of Nature, which I mention without boasting, as I now possess; neither doth it ever repent me, that I have put my hands to the Coals, and have by the help of them penetrated into the knowledge of the Secrets of Nature; I do not desire to disturb any one in this way, or to thrust any out of their places; I never was willing to live on the costs of great men, but have with my own hands gotten me my Food and Raiment, alwaies advisedly thinking on that most known Verse;
——Alterius non sit qui suus esse potest.
Let not him anothers be,
Who can of himself live free.