THE BOX. 71 



Spaw, often resort during the heat of summer to walk, 

 collation, and divert themselves into those antilex natural 

 alleys and shady recesses among the Box-trees, without 

 taking any such offence at the smell which has of late 

 banished it from our groves and gardens." Gilpin, too, is 

 of the same opinion ; speaking of Box-hill, he says : "This 

 plant grows here in full luxuriance, in its native unculti- 

 vated state, marking the road on the right with great 

 beauty." This is, I believe, the only place in Great Britain 

 in which the Box grows in profusion in its wild state. 

 Here it attains the height of about fifteen or sixteen feet, 

 and gives to the scenery quite a foreign character, the mel- 

 low tint of its foliage harmonizing well with the grey of its 

 stem and the richer green of any other tree which may 

 happen to be associated in the landscape with it ; and at 

 seasons when other trees are out of leaf it displays an un- 

 consciousness of winter which no artificial shrubbery can 

 compete with. 



Evelyn says, quaintly, but with great propriety : "He 

 that in winter should behold some of our highest hills in 

 Surry clad with whole woods of these trees, for divers 

 miles in circuit (as in those delicious groves of them be- 

 longing to the Honourable, my ISToble Friend, the late 

 Sir Adam Brown, of Beckworth Castle), might, without 

 the least violence to his imagination, fancy himself trans- 

 ported into some new or enchanted country ; for, if in any 

 spot of England, 



' Hie ver assidmuii, ati^ue ulieuis measibus sestas,' 



' — — 'tis liere 

 Eternal spring and summer all the year.' " 



Most other shrubs, if left to themselves, in a few years 

 outgrow their beauty, becoming bare near the ground, and 

 assuming an unsightly, straggling appearance. But the Box 

 retains its shape for many years, and, as it here forms 

 a thick and extensive coppice, it gives to the country a 

 character as pleasing as it is unusual. 



