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The lime is an elegant tree, where it is 



iuffered to grow at large: but we generally 



fee it in a ftrait bondage, clipped into fhape, 



and forming the fides of avenues, and viftas, 



But in its bell flate it is not very interefting. 



It has a uniformity of furface, without any of 



thofe breaks and hollows, which the moft 



picturefque trees prefentj and which give 



their foliage fo much beauty. One circum- 



flance however mould recommend the lime 



to all lovers of the imitative arts. No wood is 



fo eafily formed under the carver's chiffel. It 



is the wood, which the ingenious Gibbon ufed, 



after making trial of feveral kinds, as the 



moft proper for that curious fculpture, which 



adorns fome of the old houfes of our nobility. 



The maple is an uncommon tree, though a 

 common bum. Its wood is of little value; 

 and it is therefore rarely fuffered to increafe. 

 We feldom fee it employed in any nobler fer- 

 vice, than in filling up its part in a hedge, 

 in company with thorns, and briars, and other 

 ditch trumpery. Yet the ancients held it in 



great 



