288 gilpin's foebst scenery. 



ground we mean the appearance wliich its woods 

 present when we approach their skirts or invade 

 their recesses. Forests, in their nature, are woods 

 ab origine — not newly planted, but natural woods 

 set apart for the purposes of sheltering and 

 securing game. The trees, therefore, of which 

 these natural woods are composed, consist of all 

 ages and sizes, from the ancient fathers of the 

 forest to the scion and the seedling. They grow 

 also in that wild, disordered manner which 

 Nature prescribes — as the root casually runs 

 which throws up the scion, or as the seed or 

 acorn finds soil and room to establish itself and 

 increase. But though the richness of the scenery 



' depends greatly on this multifarious mixture, 

 which masses and fills up all the various combi- 



' nations, yet the most ancient trees of each species 

 are the glory of sylvan landscape. Young trees, 

 though even in distant views inferior to old, will, 



^ however, in that situation exhibit a better appear- 

 ance than on the spot, where no forest scenery 

 can fill the eye without a proper assemblage of 

 such trees as have seen ages pass over them. 

 These form those bold and rough exhibitions in 



