57 



such magnificent and sublimely grand trees are sel- 

 dom to be met with any where. Here I am ex- 

 tremely sorry to have again to lament the deplor- 

 able neglect of these noblest of nature's produc- 

 tions. In order to hasten the decay, and to con- 

 sign to oblivion the fine row of these trees along the 

 garden wall, in front of the mansion, which perhaps 

 cost some of their ancient proprietors many a wak- 

 ing night, some fratricide has in a most cruel and 

 wanton manner cut the roots off the whole of them 

 from one end to the other, to the depth of two 

 feet and upwards, and that too within three or four 

 feet of the trunk of the trees, which, in plain lan- 

 guage, is to say, get thee gone thou dandled darlings 

 of nature's children, which have been dandled on the 

 lap of nature for centuries, and let a garden cabbage 

 or shrub take your place — which, like Jonah's gourd, 

 is reared in a night, and perishes in a night. Had 

 I the overcharge of these woods, trees, &c. I could 

 hardly ever forgive the servant who dared to put forth 

 his hand to injure them ; his situation would hardly 

 atone for such a crime — \± is well I know not the 

 man, or his name as aforesaid would swell the pages 

 of history. — Were trees, like any other crop, sown in 

 spring and cut down in full maturity in autumn, this 

 or something like it might have passed over, but the 

 hand that plants can never see them reaped in matu- 

 rity, therefore I say, once for all, that trees planted 

 for shelter and ornament should never be cut down, 

 particularly when arrived at such a degree of per- 

 fection, without consultation and due deliberation. 

 Even the proprietor himself may have to regret, when 

 too late, the cutting or taking down of such trees, 



