158 



THE ASH. 



rests himself beneath the shade of the great Ash. 

 will have no difficuky in picturing to himself the 

 deepest horrors of a shipwreck on that iron coast ; 

 but will scarcely be brought to believe that so 

 dark a deed as that above described was perpe- 

 trated on the spot where he is sitting and almost 

 within the memory of living men.* 



I must not omit to mention the parent of all 

 the AVeeping-AsheSj" vrhich if not approaching 

 in beauty the normal condition of the tree, are so 

 frequently employed to decorate suburban gar- 

 dens. This singular tree was discovered about 

 the middle of the last century in a field belonging 

 to the Vicar of Gamlingay, near Wunpole^ in Cam- 

 bridgeshire. It was then a very old tree, and 

 some of its progeny have attained the age of 

 sixty years. Grafts (for by means of them only 

 is it propagated) have been carried to France, 

 Germany, and even to America. 



A very large specimen of the drooping Ash was 

 in 1828 or 1829 removed from Wilson's Xur- 

 sery at Derby, to Chatsworth, the seat of the Duke 

 of Devonshire, a distance of twenty-eight miles. 

 It was then fifty years old, and weighed nearly 

 eight tons. By the aid of a machine constructed 



* In confirmation of the statement here made, that the name and 

 occupation of " Cornish wreckers'' have disappeared. I may add that in 

 1845, a French ship was driven ashore within twelve miles of the scene 

 of the shipwreck alluded to above. The inhabitants of the neigh- 

 bourino: village, Porthleven, rendered every assistance in their power 

 to the unfortunate crew, all of whom were saved. The vessel was 

 driven so high on the shore that she could not be got oft and was of 

 necessity sold as she stood on the beach. Greatly to their honour, 

 the poor fishermen, who had bestowed much of their time and labour 

 on the preservation of the vessel, declined any remuneration, and. vrith " 

 one solitary" exception, begged that the salvage money might be paid- 

 over to the houseless strangers, which was accordingly done. 



