107 

 REMARKABLE TREES IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF LONDON. 



BY ME. W. A. SWINBURNE. 



After seeing the magnificent woodland scenery we have to-day at Croft, and 

 the grand old trees there, I am really afraid to bring before you my notes on my 

 favourite trees, for some of those we have seen to-day are powerful competitors to 

 my friends in Kent and Surrey ; but as Mrs. Malaprop correctly remarks, that 

 comparisons are " odorous," I will stiU venture to read what I have written. 



It may seem to be traveUing a Uttle out of the sphere of the Woolhope Club 

 to carry its members to the shady groves and verdant fields of Kent and Surrey ; 

 but we have of late become more cosmopolitan, and since we have travelled with 

 Captain Mayne Reid to the floating gardens of Mexico, and to-day with our 

 worthy President to the slopes of Lebanon, perhaps I may be excused if I presume 

 to take you to the environs of the great Metropolis ; and in doing so I may state, 

 what I dare say is weU known to most of us, that in loveliness of landscape, m 

 beauty of form and foUage, and in aU the rich profusion of Nature's gifts, there is 

 no part of the kingdom more highly favoured than the immediate vicimty of 

 London If you wsh to give the "intelligent foreigner" a good idea of the 

 glories of our land, you need not take him far from his cafe in Leicester-square 

 or his club in Pall-mall. Of course I do not allude to the romantic, or the grand, 

 or the subUme in Nature ; to seek that you must go to North Wales, the English 

 Lakes, or the Highlands of Scotland; but for all that rich pastural and sylvan 

 beauty which is so peculiarly English, half-an-hour's spin by raU or a couple of 

 hour's carriage drive will take you and him far from the busy haunts of men, and 

 into such quiet soHtudes and through country scenery, that you may fancy your- 

 selves 100 miles away from Town instead of 10. With the single exception of the 

 lowlands in Essex, and the marshes on the banks of the river by Plumstead, there is 

 a complete zone of beautiful country all round the Metropolis. A reference to a 

 map of the environs of London mil show this. Follow the course of the sun, and 

 begin near the river at Abbey Wood and Erith, then by the Crays, Chislehurst, 

 Bromley, Hayes, Whichham, Addington, Sutton, Cheam, Ewell, Hampton Court, 

 Bushey and Richmond Parks, Harrow, Hendon, Finchley, and so on to the 

 Cockney's Paradise-Epping Forest. Or if you take a wider circuit you include 

 Windsor, Dorking, Boxhill, the North Downs, Chevening Park, the Knockholt 

 Beeches, &c. In all this charming country I propose to take you to two spots, 

 where we can see some grand old trees amid lovely scenery. The first is Hayes 

 Common. It is of some considerable extent, and one of the few open spaces round 

 London that have been protected by Act of Parliament from the encroachments 

 of the buUder, and the desecration of bricks and mortar. It is covered chiefly 

 with gorse and heather, and is elevated at its western side somewhat above the 

 level of the adjacent country. On the slope leading from its level to that of the 

 lower land are the remains of a very ancient oak forest, and some very fine 

 specimens of old oaks are to be seen there. Staying with a friend in the neighbour- 

 hood, I took the opportunity to revive recollections of bygone pleasant visits to 



