VOICES FROM THE WOODLANDS. 



In such green palaces the first kings reigned, 

 Slept in their shade, and angels entertained ; 

 With such old councillors they did advise, 

 And, by frequenting sacred groves, grew wise." 



Waller, 



Would you, however, wish to see the beech in its greatest 

 perfection, visit the Frankley beeches in Worcestershire, 

 conspicuous for many iniles, and which, when seen from 

 low ground, exhibit a preternatural magnitude in the 

 distant horizon, seeming to enlarge upon the eye, and to 

 stand as martello towers to guard their brethren from 

 the cold bleak winds of winter. Dry, chalky, or limestone 

 heights are our favourite resorts ; and hence we attain to 

 a great size upon the hills of Kent and Surrey, as also 

 on the steep acclivities of the Cotswold and Stroudwater 

 hills in Gloucestershire, and on the banks of the Wye in 

 Herefordshire and Monmouthshire. Strutt speaks of a 

 noble tree in Knole Park, measuring one hundred and five 

 feet in height, and twenty-four feet girth at three feet from 

 the ground, containing four hundred and twenty-eight feet 



