StruWs DcUcice Sylvdrum, 



385 



sequestered spot, which recommends itself to our notice as 

 well by its own intrinsic beauty, as by the circumstance of its 

 having been, as Mr. Strutt informs us, the favourite haunt of 

 the poet Gray, and " the scene of his poetic musings." This 

 charming tract of woodland, which is of considerable extent, 

 lies only a few miles from Stoke Pogis *, in Buckingham- 

 shire. It possesses sufficient inequality of ground and variety 

 of surface to give additional interest to the sylvan scenery. 

 The oak, the birch, and the holly contribute their shades ; 

 and the native juniper, a local if not a rare shrub, flourishes 

 here in profusion, and casts a dark and sober-coloured mantle 

 over the whole landscape. But that which constitutes the 

 peculiar feature of the place, and marks its character, and 

 from which, indeed, it derives its appellation, is the beech, 



" That wreaths its old fantastic roots so high,'* 



and appears to be the staple growth of this part of the coun- 

 try. These trees are of great antiquity, and many of them 

 of a large size ; and, having been pollarded or lopped, most 

 probably for fuel, at some remote period, have since been 



* In the church-yard at Stoke, which probably suggested the idea of his 

 celebrated elegy, the mortal remains of the poet are entombed. 



