278 CORRESPONDENCE OF GILBERT WHITE 



LETTER XI. 



WHITE TO MAKSHAM. 



Selborne : Mar. 20th, 1792. 



DEAR SIR, 



You, in a mild way, complain a little of Procrastination : but 

 I, who have suffered all my life long by that evil power, call 

 her the Dcemon of Procrastination ; & wish that Fuseli, the 

 grotesque painter in London, who excells in drawing witches, 

 daemons, incubus's & incantations, was employed in delineating 

 this ugly hag, which fascinates in some measure the most 

 determined & resolute of men. 



You do not, I find, seem to assent to my story respecting 

 Mr. Chiswell's elm. There may be probably some misappre- 

 hension on my side. I will therefore allow Mr. Ch. that 

 priviledge which every Englishman demands as his right, the 

 liberty of speaking for himself. " In regard to my tree," 

 says he, " it is a Wych Elm, perfectly strait, & fit for the keel 

 of the largest man of war. The purveyor of the navy offered 

 my late Uncle 50 for it, altho' it would have cost as much 

 more to have conveyed it to Portsmouth ; & he would have 

 run all risque of soundness. It grows about eleven miles 

 from Safron Walden, in a deep soil, & near 30 from Cam- 

 bridge, the nearest place for water-carriage. I will measure 

 it next summer," He adds, " I have been, & am a consider- 

 able planter ; & have been honoured with three gold medals 

 from the Society of Arts," &c. Thus far Mr. Ch. 



As I begin to look upon You as a Selborne man, at least as 

 one somewhat interested in the concerns of this place; I wish 

 that You could see " The sixth Report of the Commissioners 

 appointed to enquire into the state & condition of the Woods, 

 Forests, &c. of the Crown," &c. This Report was printed 

 February, 1790; tho' never published: but distributed among 

 the members of the house of commons from some of whom 



