DBSOEIPTIVJ]! BNUMBEATION OP TREES. 119 



Gilpin still exists, in a certain degree, in England : and | 

 nothing, perhaps, has tended more to increase that preju- 

 dice during recent years than the proceedings adopted by 

 the Commissioners of Woods and Forests in dealing with 

 the beautiful woodlands endeared to the Author of this 

 ' Forest Scenery ' by an acquaintance extending over a 

 long period of years. Since 1851 and until the work of 

 destruction was condemnecT by the united voice"of public 

 opinion, and finally stopped by Parliament, gF^tTracts of 

 theNew Forest_were_c]^Tj:ed ofth^^ 



of ancient and picturesque trees to make room for m ono- 

 tonous plantations of Scotch„Fii; . This tree, therefore, is 

 associated, in the public mind, with attempts to destroy the 

 most beautiful remnants of primeval wood existing in this 

 country, and to wrest from the people of England one of the 

 dearest and most prized of the heritages of ancient times. 

 Mr. E. K. Lenthall, of Bessels Leigh Manor (a descen- 

 dant of Speaker Lenthall), informs us that one only of 

 the Scotch Firs at Bessels Leigh is now standing, and 

 that it (with the others, which were cut down by his 

 grandfather, about the year 1800) was ' probably planted 

 either by Speaker Lenthall or his son. Sir Charles Lent- 

 hall, in the reign of Charles L' Of the Thirkleby Firs— 

 we learn from the Eev. T. H. Smith, the vicar of the 

 parish — there are still standing at least seventeen or 

 eighteen in the Park, the seat of Sir W. P. Gallwey, 

 Bart.— Ed. 



The Spruce I'ir is generally esteemed a more 



