I OS 



tVe come next to treat of a defect in 

 timber, at once extremely common and 

 pernicious, namely, rottenness, and hollow- 

 Tjess,— the latter being only the effect of 

 the former. This defect is sometimes oc- 

 casioned by the soil, sometimes by ex- 

 treme old age, sometimes in consequence 



ism, as obstinately to depreciate the produce of hi^" 

 native soil •, — yet (" O Shame, where is thy blush !") 

 such are to be found ! — as the following short account 

 will sufficiently evince. 



A person, who happened to be near when the above 

 were examined, could not be persuaded to look at 

 either, yet stiffly asserted the former were all rotten, 

 and that it was impossible to make a roof of English- 

 gro\^ n Firs, which would be either straight or durable ; 

 consequtmtly concluding that the whole family were 

 71'orthless sticks, fit onlv for the fire. It was in vain 

 to attempt to refute such xcel/'/oimded assertions; be- 

 sides, truly, the man was wroth, and would not listen ; 

 no mean proof this, that he was in earnest. — Th6 

 Craftsmen, at Ephesus, were in a. similar panic, wheti 

 they cried out, *' Great is Diana of the Ephesians." — 



Froni many observations, made since the above was 

 written, I see no reason whatever to change my opr- 



