TGEE FORMS. 37 



filling up its part in a hedge, in company with 

 thorns and briars and other ditch trumpery.' 

 Yet the ancients, he admits, held it in great 

 repute, Pliny speaking as highly of the knobs 

 and excrescences of this tree, called the brusca 

 and molhisca, as Dr. Plot (in his ' Natural History 

 of Oxfordshire') did of those of the Ash. Of 

 the size and character of the Maple, Gilpin 

 expresses himself as follows : ' In the few 

 instances I have met with of this tree in a state 

 of ftaturity its form has appeared picturesque. 

 It is not unlike the Oak, but is more bushy, and 

 its branches are closer and more compact. One of 

 the largest Maples I have seen stands in the church- 

 yard of Boldre in New Forest ; but I have not met 

 with specimens enough of this tree to form an 

 opinion of its general character.' The Maple in 

 Boldre Churchyard is still living, and is larger than 

 in Gilpin' s time. A drawing of it by Mrs. Lister 

 Kay appears in the view of the church and 

 churchyard of Boldre published in the present 

 writer's edition of ' Forest Scenery.' Under- 

 neath this famous tree lie the mortal remains of 

 Gilpin and of his wife. 



