10 THE OAK. 



an agent, and well-placed and weU-merited 

 confidence in the employer. 



In other parts of the division, as on the course 

 of the Derwent, oak and other heavy timber of 

 various kinds adorned its banks and steeps 

 and slopes on every side ; and there is a tra- 

 dition, as related to me by the late Samuel 

 Erith, of Bank Hall, that there was formerly 

 an extensive fall of oak in the woods at High 

 Low, in the parish of Hope, before the estate 

 was purchased by the father of the late Duke 

 of Devonshire, from the trustees for sale under 

 the will of John Archer, Esq., a gentleman 

 of fortune, residing in Essex, about 1804, the 

 timber of which was sold to Government, 

 and was used in the building of a man-of- 

 war, ' The Eoyal George ;' and the last fall 

 took place a few years before it was sold to 

 the Duke, and the old woodmen described the 

 trees as being almost of a fabulous size. 



I am inclined to think that the nearest 



