348 



THE BEECH. 



mountains^ it is true, tliat do not ascend much 

 above the clouds, nor are tlie declivities quite so 

 amazing as Dover Cliff; but just such hills as 

 people, who love their necks as much as I do, may 

 venture to climb, and crags that give the eve as 

 much pleasure as if 'they were more dangerous. 

 Both vale and hill are covered with most venera- 

 ble Beeches, and other very reverend vegetables, 

 that, like most other ancient people, are always 

 dreaming out their old stories to the winds : 



^ And as they bow tlieir hoary tops, relate, 

 In murmiirmg sounds, the dark decrees of Fare : 

 "While visions, as poetic eyes avow, 

 Cling to each leaf, and swarm on ever}' bough.' 



At the foot of these I lay myself down, and 

 there grow to the trunk for a whole morning. 

 The timorous hare and sportive squirrel gambol 

 around me, like Adam in Paradise." The youth 

 to fortune and to fame unkno^ra" has thus en- 

 shrined the substance of these remarks, in the 

 most beautiful ode in the English language : — 



"There at the foot of yonder nodding Beech, 

 That wreaths its old fantastic roots so high, 

 His listless length at noon-tide would he stretch, 

 And pore upon the brook that bubbles by.'" 



The Purley Beeches, a beautifully executed 

 engraving of which stands at the beginning of 

 this chapter, are of great antiquity. They ap- 

 pear to be not much known, but their history 

 Avould be well worth enquiring into. Popular 

 tradition assigns them to the age of William the 

 Conqueror. 



Numerous other remarkable trees are noticed 

 by Loudon, Lauder, &c., averaging from twelve 



