[ #47] 
for a mile or more in length, now lie void of tim- 
ber, defolate and wafte. Witnefles from Hamp- 
fhire, Kent, Surry, Suffex, Hereford, can vouch — 
fuch affertions to be true, and not confined to nar- 
row diftricts only; but that the general face of the 
woodland parts of their refpective counties hath 
of late years loft its moft ftriking features, and the 
woods themfelves their chiefeft glories; both their 
branchy and their towering oaks. 
Argument defigned to controvert facts muft ei- 
ther bewilder the fenfes by the dazzling blaze of 
rhetoric, or be eftablifhed on a firmer bafis than the 
paradox in commerce, on which the reafoning of 
your correfpondent refts. 
On his obfervation, “ that the dock-yard prices 
“ have virtually funk of late, by increafing the me- 
“tings of timbers they take in;”* permit me to 
remark, that in taking large pieces at the old price, ' 
they favour the merchant by winking at an en- 
croached profit, which has been gradually creeping 
on, to upwards of fixteen percent. That in reject- 
ing the {mall, they do but juftice to the crown; for, 
from an eftablifhed rule of near a century ftanding, 
no fticks under fixty feet metings were admiffible, 
* « That is, they now reject timber under a certain fize, which till 
& of late they were obliged to take, to induce the dealers to bring them 
“ the large pieces they wanted. They now take the large pieces at 
* the old price, and reject the fmall.” 
Bath Society’s Memoirs, vol. vi. p. 179. 
knees, 
