sheets of the first volume of the octavo edition had not been printed off before its formal revision was undertaken by him. The octavo and the quartos are only in agreement at the outset. Many curious discrepancies are afterwards observable, which resulted from Mr. Upcott's anxiety, as soon as the opportunity was offered him, to bring the text of the octavo into more exact agreement with the original.

While engaged in this labour he was permitted to have access to the manuscripts preserved at Wotton; and, desiring to complete the selections from Evelyn's Correspondence, originally published with the Diary, he transcribed many new and hitherto unpublished letters, also with a view to this edition, and added several others derived from private sources. The Evelyn Correspondence, thus enriched by many original letters of great interest, will occupy the same space as the Diary.

January, 1850.

THE last sheets of this Work, with a Dedication to the late LADY EVELYN, under whose permission it was to be given to the Public, were in the hands of the Printer, when it pleased God to release her from a long and painful illness, which she had borne with the greatest fortitude and resignation to the Divine Will.

These papers descended with the estate, from the celebrated JOHN EVELYN, Esq. (a relative of your immediate ancestor) to his great-great-grandson, the late Sir Frederick Evelyn, Bart. This gentleman dying without issue, entrusted the whole to his Lady, whose loss we have now to lament; of whose worth, and of the value of whose friendship, I have happily had long knowledge and experience. Alive to the honour of the family, of which she was thus made the representative, she maintained it in every point, and with the most active benevolence; and her care extended to every part of the property attached to the domain. Mr. Evelyn had formed in his own mind a plan of what he called an "Elysium Britannicum," in which the Library and Garden were intended to be

the principal objects: could he return and visit this his beloved Seat, he would find his idea realised by the arrangement and addition which her Ladyship had made to his library, and by the disposition of the flower-garden and greenhouse, which she had embellished with the most beautiful and curious flowers and plants, both native and exotic.

In completion and full justification of the confidence thus reposed in her, her Ladyship has returned the Estate with its valuable appendages, to the family, in your

person.

I have, therefore, now to offer these Volumes to you, Sir; with a wish, that you and your posterity may long enjoy the possessions, and continue the line of a family so much distinguished, in many of its branches, for superior worth and eminence.

I am, Sir,

Your most obedient,

And most humble servant,

Shere. 2nd Jan., 1818.

WILLIAM BRAY.

PREFACE.

THE following pages are taken from the Journal of JOHN EVELYN, Esq. author (amongst many other works) of the celebrated Sylva, a Treatise on Forest-Trees, and from which he has often been known by the name of "The Sylva Evelyn." The Journal is written by him in a very small, close hand, in a quarto volume containing 700 pages, which commences in 1641, and is continued to the end of 1697; and from thence is carried on in a smaller book till within about three weeks of his death, which happened 27th Feb., 1705-6, in the 86th year of

his age.

These books, with numberless other papers in his handwriting, are in the valuable library at Wotton, which was chiefly collected by him. Lady Evelyn, the late possessor of that very respectable old Mansion, after much solicitation from many persons, consented to favour the Public

with this communication. The last sheets were in the

hands of the Printer, when the death of that Lady happened.

The Editor who has been intrusted with the preparation of the work for the Press, is fully diffident of his competence to make a proper selection; and is even aware that many things will be found in its pages which, in the opinion of some, and not injudicious, Critics, may appear too unimportant to meet the public eye. But it has been thought that some information, at least some amusement, would be furnished by the publication; and it has been supposed that some curious particulars of persons and transactions would be found in the accompanying notes. Though these papers may not be of importance enough to appear in the pages of an Historian of the Kingdom, they may, in some particulars, set even such an one right; and, though the notices are short, they may, as to persons, give some hints to Biographers, or at least may gratify the curiosity of those who are inquisitive after the mode in which their ancestors conducted business, or passed their time. It is hoped that such will not be altogether disappointed.

Thus, when mention is made of great men going after dinner to attend a Council of State, or the business of