102 SYLVA BRITANNICA. 



cumference of the stem eighteen feet six inches. 

 The two principal limbs are fifteen and twelve feet 

 in circumference ; the ambitus of the boughs is two 

 hundred and four feet ; and it contains four hundred 

 and forty feet of solid timber. 



" The Weeping Willow," says Gilpin, " is a very 

 picturesque tree. It is not, however, adapted to sub- 

 lime subjects. We wish it not to skreen the broken 

 buttresses and gothic windows of an abbey, nor 

 to overshadow the battlements of a ruined castle. 

 These offices it resigns to the oak, whose dignity can 

 support them. The weeping willow seeks a hum- 

 bler scene, some romantic footpath bridge, which it 

 half conceals, or some glassy pool, over which it 

 hangs its streaming foliage, 



and dips 



Its pendent boughs, stooping as if to drink. 



In these situations it appears in character, and of 

 course to advantage. Some willows, indeed, I have 

 thought beautiful, and fit to appear in the decoration 

 of any rural scene. The kind I have most admired 

 has a small narrow leaf, and wears a pleasant light 

 sea-green tint, which mixes agreeably with foliage 

 of a deeper hue. I believe the botanists call it 

 the Salix Alba" REMARKS ON FOREST SCENERY, 

 Vol. I. p. 67. 



