124 THE COMMOy^ OR FIELD MAPLE. 



lias not mucli to recommend it. Gilpin says of 

 it, Tlie ^Maple is an uncommon tree, though a 

 common bush. Its wood is of little value ; and 

 it is therefore rarely sulfered to increase. We 

 seldom see it employed in any nobler ser^'ice than 

 in filling up its part in a hedge, in company ^vith 

 thorns, and briars, and other ditch trumpery." 

 And although he afterwards says, " In the few 

 instances I have met with of this tree in a state 

 of maturity, its form has appeared picturesque ; " 

 yet his praise of it is so exceedingly slight, that 

 I have very little doubt that his eye, acute as it 

 was to discern what is beautiful in the general 

 features of nature, could have alighted with greater 

 pleasru'e on ahnost any other kind of tree that 

 can be named. Nevertheless, he has given to the 

 Maple a deeper interest than it ever possessed 

 before ; for ^' under the large Maple in Boldre 

 churchyard, the Rev. "W. Gilpin, after fulfilhng 

 his duties in the most exemplary manner for 

 twenty years, as rector of this parish of Boldre, 

 chose for his last resting place this sweet seques- 

 tered spot, amidst 'the scenes he so much loved, 

 and has so well described.'** 



By the ancients hardly any wood was more 

 valued than that of the ]\Iaple, insomuch, that 

 Virgil represents one of his kings as seated on a 

 ^laple throne. The great naturalist Pliny, says 

 that its trunk, for beauty and firmness of grain, 

 is inferior only to the Citron-wood. One kind, 

 from the varied character of its veining, was 

 named the Peacock Maple. The knots called 

 Brusca and JloUusca, were most valued, and 



* Strutt. 



