Strutt’s Sylva Britannica. 547 
its folio namesake, with some omissions, however, and some 
additions; and it bears about the same relation to its prede- 
cessor as a watch does to a time-piece: or, to adopt our 
author’s more elegant comparison, it ‘ will afford a gratifica- 
tion similar to that which a lover of art derives from compar- 
ing a finished miniature with the same subject in full size.” 
The original folio work, from its size, the labour expended on 
the plates, and the splendid style in which it was got up, was 
necessarily a somewhat costly publication, and consequently 
beyond the pockets of many persons, who yet wanted neither 
the taste nor inclination to become purchasers. ‘The present 
work, offered at a far lower price, is within the reach of that 
more numerous class of readers whose means are moderate, 
and we trust it will obtain a much wider circulation. An 
octavo volume, too, has the manifest advantage over a cum- 
brous folio of being more portable and commodious, and, as 
such, a far more agreeable book to read. And, if we mistake 
not, it will, from its very size, possess a charm in the eyes of 
those who subscribe to the truth of the maxim, ‘ Inest sua 
gratia parvis.” We greatly admire the original or parent 
work ; and, in speaking of the present, so far from seeing any 
cause to alter our tone, and lay aside the language of pane- 
gyric, we feel disposed to adopt the complimentary address 
of the poet to his mistress, and apostrophise this beautiful 
volume, in the words of Horace : — 
“ O matre pulchra filia pulchrior.” 
The two editions contain exactly the same number of plates, 
namely, fifty; though, as already hinted, there is some varia- 
tion in the selection of the subjects. Mr. Strutt has omitted, 
in the new edition, eight of the more unimportant plates con- 
tained in the original, substituting in their room an equal 
number of subjects possessed of greater interest. Of the 
plates omitted we seriously regret the absence of only one — 
the Knole Beech, a magnificent example of the species in its 
vigour, possessing, with its accompanying background of forest 
scenery, much picturesque beauty, and altogether well worthy 
of finding a place in any collection of the kind. For what 
reason Mr. Strutt should have discarded it on the present 
occasion, we are utterly at a loss to discover; and the more 
so, as the plate exhibited a most successful effort of his 
genius, portraying, as it did, with admirable precision, the 
genuine character and distinctive features of the beech. The 
new subjects, those we mean which are not to be found in the 
first edition, are as follows: viz. the Bull Oak in Wedgenock 
