Strutts Sylva Britannica. 555 
lay claim. Accordingly, each stick of timber, ¢ oreat and small, 
young and old, thriving and in decay, is cut "down from the 
waste with ruthless and unsparing hand, Jest haply, in the 
general division, it should fall to the aiipiaene of some other 
proprietor; and thus the boundary-trees, the ancient land- 
marks of the neighbourhood, the monumental guardians of 
parochial territory, the very Gospel oaks themselves, whose 
name alone ought to render them sacred and inviolable, are 
too often indiscriminately levelled in the general devastation. 
Several instances of such wanton acts of spoliation have fallen 
under our own knowledge, and in our immediate vicinity ; and 
we blush for the perpetrators of the deed. The value of these 
scathed and antiquated trees, as timber, is quite inconsider- 
able; the bark seldom runs well, and, if it zs peeled off, con- 
sists of so large a portion of scotch, as it is called, or dry outside 
rind, that it is of litthe worth in the estimation of the tanner. 
The whole profit, in short, derived from these Goth-like, sacri- 
legious practices is trifling in amount, and in many cases (we 
hope it may prove so in all) can scar -cely repay the expense of 
the labour in felling. Wecould mention an instance, not exactly 
of a Gospel oak, ian an ornamental one, of great size, beauty, 
and antiquity, cut down by the express order of its owner ; 
the trunk of which was of such large dimensions, that, as it 
lay along on the ground, two men on horseback, as they sat 
in their saddles, one on each side the prostrate giant, could 
not discern the least portion of each other’s hats, owing to 
the large diameter of the intervening but. We visited “the 
tree ourselves, accompanied by a fr iend, each party on horse- 
back, some years after it had been felled, and therefore can 
vouch for the accuracy of the statement. For what purpose 
the tree was felled it would be difficult to conjecture, as the 
trunk was completely hollow, and must have been known 
beforehand to be in that condition; and the shell, as might 
be expected, proved so “ unwedgeable and gnarled » as to be 
utterly unserviceable for the ordinary purposes of timber: 
accordingly, it lay neglected and unworked up for a number 
of years; and probably may still remain to this day, to rot 
at leisure in the spot where it fell. 
“ Embowell’d now, and of thy ancient self 
Possessing nought but the scoop’d rind, that seems 
An huge throat, calling to the clouds for drink, 
Which it would give in rivulets to thy root; 
Thou temptest none, but rather much forbidd’ st 
The feller’s toil, which thou couldst ill requite.” Cowper. 
Who can read Gilbert White’s graphic account of the vast 
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