Strutfs Sylva Britdnnica, 555 



lay claim. Accordingly, each stick of timber, great and small, 

 young and old, thriving and in decay, is cut down from the 

 waste with ruthless and unsparing hand, lest haply, in the 

 general division, it should fall to the allotment 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 is peeled off, con- 

 sists of so large a portion of scotch, as it is called, or dry outside 

 rind, that it is of little 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 scarcely repay the expense of 

 the labour in felling. We could mention an instance, not exactly 

 of a Gospel oak, but 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 friend, 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 



o o 2 



