Grigor^s Eastern Arharetum. 601 



bestowing. When trees get old, and are resorted to by birds generallj', as 

 is the case here, it is a sure sign that their effect in landscape is com- 

 plete (for the feathered tribes are the best of all judges in this respect) : they 

 enter then upon the reverential class, and give a consecrating touch to every 

 thing around them. It is on this account that such of our old family man- 

 sions and castellated halls, that are so embosomed amongst trees, read to 

 us so much of descent, and lead back the mind to some of the best and 

 brightest days of hoary antiquity. The extraordinary trees in this park, 

 which deserve particularly to be noticed, are of the English oak. The 

 largest of those we measured has a trunk 24 ft. in girth ; but it is divided into 

 two large limbs a few feet from the ground, which considerably destroys its 

 appearance. The handsome tree of this species, so well known to all those 

 in the neighbourhood who take an interest in those matters, is of less magni- 

 tude, measuring 19 ft. in circumference, whilst that of the space overspread 

 by the branches is 152 yards." 



Cossey Park, the Seat of Lord Stafford, is described, and justice done to 

 the architecture of the mansion, and the extensive and well-stocked walls of 

 the kitchen-garden, " the whole arrangements of which bespeak the enlightened 

 management of Mr. Wighton the gardener. The trees here of most note are 

 ashes, with trunks from 4 ft. to 6 ft. in diameter ; a large elm, of which an 

 engraving is given ; and old thorns, with trunks which girt above 3 ft. We thank 

 God for his trees, and the green sod He has laid out around them ! They are 

 his gifts ; and we look upon them as so many invitations to us to be good men. 

 And though He cursed the earth generally, with all its fair furniture, we see 

 that he hath withheld the severity of the sentence from some spots ; for 

 they yet break into loveliness, and assume all we fancy of primeval verdure. 

 Such a spot is Cossey." 



Dereham and its Neighbourhood. — " We hasten to remind our readers at 

 a distance, that we write these lines at the grave of the inimitable poet, 

 Cowper. The good man sleeps on the breast of a sunny bank in one of the 

 richest spots of rural Norfolk, amid much of the quiet and inviting traits of 

 nature. There are trees about his grave ; and we are now convinced more 

 than ever, that there ought to be no cemetery without them ; for otherwise 

 you cannot get birds to come and sing around those sacred places ; and be- 

 sides, in their absence, churchyards never assume that settled quietude which 

 all of us associate with the joicture of what we should like our last earthly 

 resting place to be ; they wear rather an aspect of awful desertion, as if in 

 the midst of a moor or common, where nature is unchanging." 



" The trees which overshadow the place where this great man reposes are 

 of the Acer Pseudo-Platanus, our English sycamore, or the plane of the 

 Scotch, distinguished by some old people as a Bible or New Testament tree, 

 being that from which Zaccheus saw our Saviour whilst on his way to 

 Jerusalem, and the same species which to this day skirts the hallowed shores 

 of Genesareth." Mr. Grigor has here fallen into a little mistake, the syco- 

 more of Scripture being the i^icus iSycomorus of Linneeus, a native of Egypt 

 and of the Holy Land. " In the neighbourhood of Dereham are the extensive 

 lawn and gardens of W. W. Lee Warner, Esq., containing some of the most 

 vigorous and handsome trees in the county. Those who are not generous 

 enough to provide for posterity may find a proof here that it is possible to 

 enjoy the fruit of one's own hands ; for, with a few trifling exceptions, all the 

 trees on this well-wooded park were planted by the spirited proprietor himself. 

 One of them, an English elm, already measures 2 ft. in diameter, and rises 

 to the height of 50 ft. We are at all times particularly delighted to see the 

 first gentlemen of our land thus betaking themselves to the ' heroic line of 

 husbandry,' and rearing both for themselves and successors such useful and 

 endearing objects." 



(To he continued.') 



1840. Nov. R R 



