AND ROBERT MARSHAM. 250 



.V :in half from me to the S.E. in an abrupt field, Stand four 

 noble beech-trees on the edge of a steep, rocky ravin, or 

 water-gulley, the biggest of which measures 9 feet 5 inches at 

 four feet from the ground. Their noble branching heads & 

 smooth rind show that they are in the highest vigour & 

 preservation-. Again the vast bloated, pollard, hollow beeches, 

 mentioned before, stood on the bare, naked end of a chalky 

 promontory, many of which measured from 20 to 30 feet in 

 circumference I they were the admiration of all strangers. 

 How has prevailed the notion that all old London was built 

 with chestnut ? It is with us now vile timber, porous, shakey, 

 and fragil, & only fit for the meanest coopery purposes. Yet 

 have I known it smuggled into Portsmouth dock as good 

 ship-building oak ! * 



The more I observe & take notice of the best Oaks now 

 remaining in this neighbourhood, the more I am astonished at 

 the oak which you planted yourself. For there is amost noble 

 tree of that kind near Hartely house, which I caused to be 

 measured last week ; when behold, at four feet above the 

 ground the girth proved to be only 14 feet, when yours 

 measured 12 ft. 6 in. I Why this fine shafted tree, with it's 

 majestic head escaped the ax (sic) thirty years ago, when Sr. 

 Simeon Stuart felled all it's contemporaries, I cannot pretend 

 to say. If you ever happen to see the Hamadryad of y* 

 favourite Oak, pray give my respects to her. She must be a 

 fine venerable old lady. For a diverting story respecting an 

 Hamadryad, see the Spectator, vol. 8, p. 128. 



Behind my house I have got an outlet of seven acres laid 

 out in walks by my father. As the soil is strong, the hedges, 

 which are cut-up, are prodigious. The maples about 35 feet 

 in height, <fe the hasles & whitethorns 20, which, when 

 feathered to the ground, were beautiful : but they now, being 

 50 years old, have rather over-stood their time; & besides, the 

 severity of Decem r 1784 has occasioned irreparable damages 

 among the branches. Thus much for trees. Lord Stawell f 



* See note, p. 266. 



t [Henry Stawell Bilson Legge, Lord Stawell, succeeded in 1780 to 

 the barony conferred upon his mother, and died in 1820. A. N.] 



