26 gilhn's foeest scenery. 



about the roots, are often possessed by that green, 

 velvet moss, whicli in a still greater degree com- 

 monly occupies the bole of the Beech, though the 

 beauty and brilliancy of it lose much when in 

 decay. As the trunk rises you see the brimstone 

 colour taking possession in patches. Of this there 

 are two principal kinds — a smooth sort, which 

 spreads like a scurf over the bark, and a rougher 

 sort, which hangs in little rich knots and fringes. 

 I call it a brimstone hue, by way of general dis- 

 tinction : but it sometimes inclines to an olive, and 

 sometimes to a light green. Intermixed with 

 these mosses you often find a species perfectly 

 white. Before I was acquainted with it I have 

 sometimes thought the tree whitewashed. Here 

 and there a touch of it gives a lustre to the trunk, 

 and has its effect : yet, on the whole, it is a 

 nuisance ; for, as it generally begins to thrive when 

 the other mosses begin to wither (as if the decaying 

 bark were its proper nutriment), it is rarely ac- 

 companied with any of the more beautiful species 

 of its kind ; and, when thus unsupported, always 

 disgusts. This white moss, by the way, is 

 esteemed a certain mark of age; and, when it 



