6 SYLVA BR1TANNICA. 



foliage of the beech, or sycamore, with the funereal 

 majesty of the cedar or the yew; all differing in 

 form and character, as in colour : 



" No tree in all the grove but has its charms, 

 And each its charm peculiar." 



COWPER. 



To a casual observer it may appear, that the view 

 of one tree is much like the view of another ; and 

 that a forest itself is more calculated to strike the 

 imagination, by the greatness of its aggregate, than 

 to interest it by the variety of its detail ; but it is 

 very different with the ardent contemplatist of 

 Nature ; with him, as is well observed by St. Pierre, 

 himself an unwearied admirer of her charms, " every 

 tree has its individual character, and every group 

 its harmony." Every winding branch, and every 

 shooting stem, has a charm for him; and he is 

 interested throughout each stage of the existence of 

 these wonderful vegetable structures, from the ten- 

 der sapling to the leafless withered trunk. 



THE GREAT OAK OF PANSHANGER 



is a fine specimen of the Oak in its prime. The 

 epithet of Great was attached to it more than a cen- 

 tury ago ; it appears, however, even now to have 

 scarcely reached its meridian : the waving lightness of 



