SECTION XIV. 



495 



resin, would soon varnish over the whole surface, and render it rain- 

 proof. Neither do I believe that this wood would so improve in hard- 

 ness, as to be almost impenetrable by edge-tools, after being sunk in the 

 sea for some centuries ; as is proved to be the case at Venice and else- 

 where, and is attested by Witzen, Evelyn, and many others. Further, 

 I have no conception that the eminent painters of the present day could 

 make such tablets of British Larch, instead of canvass for their pictures, 

 as Raphael and Urbino certainly used, which would last three hundred 

 years, and without warping or shrinking. I say again, let us frequent- 

 ly go to the Alps for our seed. 



Note XXIII. Page 366. 



I may say with Cicero, on a different occasion. Me autem, una cum 

 Socrate et Platone, errare patiantur. The supposed extraordinary beauty 

 of the Larch is so popular an opinion, that he who presumes to dissent 

 from it, is pretty sure to be left in the minority. " The Larch (says 



Marshall) has a particularly elegant appearance It is in good esteem 



as an ornamental.^'' Rur. Ornament, vol. ii. p. 249. " The Larch (says 

 another modern writer on planting) is a timher-tree of great heaut?/, 

 magnitude, and value. Those of the largest size in this country, when 

 standing detached, and some others of smaller size, are certainly MgTily 

 ornamental^ — Nicol's Plant. Kalend. p. 92. Dr Anderson says, that 

 the Larch is known to be "one of the quickest growing trees, 

 remarkable hardy, and extremely heautifuV — Essays on Agriculture, &c. 

 vol. iii. But let us hear the Rev. G. J. Hamilton, author of the best 

 practical treatise we have, an " Essay on Woods and Plantations." It 

 deservedly gained the premium lately held out by the Highland 

 Society, and contains more sound information, and in a narrower com- 

 pass, than perhaps any other tract existing on the subject. " The 

 Larch (says he) is heyond comparison the quickest grower, and the most 

 elegant and mludble of all the other species of trees reared in Scotland'* 

 — Trans. High. Soc. of Scot. vol. v. p. 278. He means, of course, to say 

 " the most elegant of any species of trees." On all which opinions, I 

 shall merely observe De gustibus non est disputandum ; which old adage 

 being properly translated imports, that " there is no calling in question 

 the likings or dislikings of any man." It is by a popular abuse of 

 words only, that it can be supposed in any shape to refer to taste^ 

 (figuratively speaking,) which, as a distinct principle, is clearly fixed by 

 a standard, and is independent of fashion or caprice. 



