154 Gilpin's forest soeneey. 



for all the purposes of distant scenery, we often 

 find ; but a tree in full perfection, as a grand 

 object to grace a foreground, is rarely seen. 

 Wherever trees can be turned to profit, they are 

 commonly cut down, long before they attain pic- 

 turesque perfection. The beauty of almost every 

 species of tree increases after its prime ; and, 

 unless it have the good fortune to stand in some 

 place of difficult access, or under the protection 

 of , some patron whose mansion it adorns, we 

 rarely see it in that grandeur and dignity which it 

 would acquire by age. 



Gilpin's lament mighty unfortunately, be truthfully 

 re-echoed in our own day. In few places, indeed, can 

 we now find trees in full perfection except where they are 

 ' under the protection of some patron,' whose mansion they 

 adorn, or who takes a pride in possessing and preserving 

 them ; or when they stand in some public park or in the 

 few woodlands which are still left to us. So called ' utility ' 

 — wbich is often another name for private or corporate 

 greed — is very commonly made an excuse for the destruc- 

 tion of beautiful trees. Many of the trees which still 

 remain with us in public places owe their existence to 

 the large-hearted efforts of public- spirited individuals 

 who, however, are seldon successful in saving noble trees 

 except by the matter-of-fact method of purchasing their 



