OF SELBOENE. 543 



LETTER V. 



TO ROBERT MARSHAM, ESQUIRE. 



SELBORNE, March 20th, 1792. 

 OU, in a mild way, complain a little of Pro- 

 crastination : but I, who have suffered all 

 my life long by that evil power, call her the 

 Daemon of Procrastination, and wish that 

 Fuseli, the grotesque painter in London, 

 who excells in drawing witches, daemons, incubus's, and 

 incantations, was employed in delineating this ugly hag, 

 which fascinates in some measure the most determined and 

 resolute of men. 



You do not, I find, seem to assent to my story respect- 

 ing Mr. ChiswelFs elm. There may probably be some 

 misapprehension on my side. I will therefore allow Mr. 

 Chiswell that priviledge which every Englishman demands 

 as his right, the liberty of speaking for himself. " In regard 

 to my tree," says he, " it is a Wych Elm, perfectly strait, 

 and fit for the keel of the largest man-of-war. The pur- 

 veyor of the navy offered my late uncle 50 for it, although 

 it would have cost as much more to have conveyed it to 

 Portsmouth ; and he would have run all risque of soundness. 

 1 1 grows about eleven miles from Saffron Walden, in a deep 

 soil, and near thirty from Cambridge, the nearest place for 

 water-carriage. I will measure it next summer." He adds, 

 ' ' I have been, and am a considerable planter, and have been 

 honoured with three gold medals from the Society of Arts/' 

 &c. Thus far Mr. Chiswell. 



As I begin to look upon you as a Selborne man, at least 

 as one somewhat interested in the concerns of this place, 

 I wish that you could see " The sixth Eeport of the Com- 

 missioners appointed to enquire into the state and condition 

 of the Woods, Forests, &c. of the Crown," &c. This Report 



