22 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 



himself existed in those ancient times when men had hig'h notions of the 

 rights of hospitaUty, and not merely the rules of civility ; when, as 

 Homer says, strangers were received as guests from heaven ; — one 

 who thinks with me, that the over-refinements of polished life are 

 but a mask for insincerity and heartlessness, — in short, a true sample of 

 the old English 'Squire, and as good a judge of a horse, a hound, a 

 bottle of port wine, and an oak-tree, as any man in England, or any 

 where else. Such, reader, is the v>-ell-known Anthony Surtees of Hamster- 

 ley, who commanded — not invited me to his house, when on my York- 

 shire Tour ; who receives under the shadow of his roof, not only his 

 friends themselves, but their servants, their horses, their hounds — in 

 short any thing they may favour him with, that contributes to their 

 amusement and comfort. He has, however, an excellent house to stow 

 them in, and perhaps one of the best timbered estates in the county of 

 Durham, in the management of which, as regards the growth and 

 arrangement of the timber, he is said to have few equals, the result of 

 attentive experience. 



By the way, the allusion to this gentleman's timber reminds me 

 of a fact respecting the larch tree, which it may not be amiss to repeat on 

 such practical authority as his. It relates to the progress of its growth, 

 which, he informed me, is as follows : — 



In the first ten years — one part. 



In the next five and a half, one part. 



In the next six and a quarter, two parts. 



In the next six and three-quarters, four parts. 



1 am also of my own knowledge able to state a rather singular proof 



