16 THE CHRONICLES OF A GARDEN. 



classes concerned in the building of suburban residences. 

 To judge by tlie unsparing use of the axe resorted to when 

 a wooded park is " feued " for villas, be they mansions or 

 cottages, one would think that a fine tree or group of trees 

 was a nuisance to be got quit of as quickly as possible, and 

 that no allotment of ground, whether of six acres or only 

 consisting of one, could be ready for either building on or 

 laying out as garden or shrubbery, till every tree had been 

 uprooted and the ground left bare as the blasted heath. 

 Then the roads and pathways, where once we walked under 

 shady sycamores or spreading ^beeches, alas for their leafy 

 honours now ! Poor comfort it is for those who once ad- 

 mired, ay, and loved those noble trees, to be told that now 

 the footpaths will be drier and the roads in better order, 

 for the litter of fallen leaves is at an end, and the sun and 

 wind will now dry up all mud and moisture. How sadly 

 do we now recall the rural beauty of one of those by- 

 roads, with its avenue of trees on each side, and bounded 

 on the west only by an old crumbling wall, over which one 

 could see into the sweet green fields, gay with buttercups 

 and daisies, while every here and there, where the road 

 widened, there were irregular grassy knolls covered with 

 whins, where one might sit and rest, even though it was 

 " within a mile of Edinburgh town." First came the re- 

 pairing of that old mossy wall, so that one could no longer 

 see into the grass or look on the trunks of the tall trees ; 

 but still their branches waved overhead, and still the green 

 resting-places remained. But ere long tlie ground was 

 fcucd, the old trees were cut down, a staring stone-and- 



