74 



SYLVA BRITANNICA. 



however, be acknowledged, that its shades are more 

 favourable to the traveller and the shepherd, than 

 to vegetation ; and that it is of that encroaching 

 and dominant nature, that a wood which may have 

 been originally in equal proportions of Oak and 

 Beech, will in course of time become entirely 

 beechen. 



THE GREAT BEECH IN WINDSOR 



FOREST, 



near Sawyer's Gate, in the neighbourhood of Sun- 

 ning Hill, presents remains of surpassing grandeur, 

 and evidently of great antiquity. " Its rugged 

 projections and twisted roots give it, on one side, 

 the appearance of some rude mass of broken archi- 

 tecture ; whilst on the other it is entirely hollow, 

 and surrounded by lofty and aged trees, spread- 

 ing their dark umbrageous arms, as if to hide 

 the access to it : insomuch that one coming sud- 

 denly upon the sequestered spot in remoter times, 

 might have imagined that he had ventured unawares 

 within the precincts of some marauder's cave ; or 

 intruded, perchance, on some holy anchorite's 

 retreat. Many, indeed, are the delightful scenes 

 of contemplation that this magnificent and truly 

 regal forest affords. Many are the aged oaks and 

 spreading befeches, that seem to speak of the days 



