AND ROBERT MARSHA M 259 



& an half from me to the S.E. in an abrupt field, stand four 

 noble beech-trees on the edge of a steep, rocky ravin, or 

 water-gulley, the biggest of which measures !» feel ."> inches al 

 four feet from the ground. Their noble branching head- A 

 smooth rind show that they arc in the highest vigour & 

 preservation. Again the vast bloated, pollard, hollow beeches, 

 mentioned before, stood on the bare, naked end of a chalky 

 promontory, many of which measured from 20 to 30 feet in 

 circumference! they were the admiration of all strangers. 

 How has prevailed the notion that all. old London was built 

 with chestnut? It is with us now vile timber, porous, shakey, 

 and fragil, & only fit for the meanest coopery purposes. Yet 

 have I known it smuggled into Portsmouth dock as good 

 ship-building oak ! * 



The more I observe & take notice of the best oaks now 

 remaining in this neighbourhood, the more I am astonished at 

 the oak which you planted yourself. For there is amost noble 

 tree of that kind near Hartely house, which I caused to lie 

 measured last week ; when behold, at four feet above the 

 ground the girth proved to be only 14- feet, when yours 

 measured 12 ft. 6 in. ! Why this fine shafted tree, with it's 

 majestic head escaped the ax (sic) thirty years ago, when Sr. 

 Simeon Stuart felled all it's contemporaries, I cannot pretend 

 to say. If you ever happen to see the Hamadryad of y r 

 favourite Oak, pray give my respects to her. She must be a 

 fine venerable old lady. For a diverting story respecting an 

 Hamadryad, see the Spectator, vol. 8, p. 12s. 



Behind my house I have got an outlet of seven acres laid 

 out in walks by my father. As the soil is strong, the bed;, 

 which are cut-up, are prodigious. The maples about 35 feet 

 in height, & the hasles & whitethorns 20, which, when 

 feathered to the ground, were beautiful : but they now, being 

 50 years old, have rather over-stood their time; & besides, the 

 severity of Decem r 1784 has occasioned irreparable damages 

 among the branches. Thus much for trees. Lord St a we 1 1 t 



* See note, p. 266. 



t [Henry Stawell Bilson Legge, Lord Stawell. succeeded in L780 tu 

 the barony conferred upon his mother, and died in 1820.- A. Y 



S 2 



