OF 8ELB0BNE. 
543 
LETTER Y. 
TO ROBERT MARSHAM, ESQUIRE. 
Selborne, March 20th, 1792. 
OU^ in a mild way, complain a little of Pro- 
crastination : but I, who have suffered all 
my life long by that evil power, call her the 
Dcemon of Frocrastination, and wish that 
Fuseli, the grotesque painter in London, 
who exceils in drawing witches, daemons, incubuses, and 
incantations, was employed in delineating this ugly hag, 
which fascinates in some measure the most determined and 
resolute of men. 
You do not, I find, seem to assent to my story respect- 
ing Mr. ChiswelVs elm. There may probably be some 
misapprehension on my side. I will therefore allow Mr. 
Chiswell that priviledge which every Englishman demands 
as his right, the liberty of speaking for himself. In regard 
to my tree,^'' says he, it is a Wych Elm, perfectly strait, 
and fit for the keel of the largest man-of-war. The pur- 
veyor of the navy offered my late uncle £50 for it, although 
it would have cost as much more to have conveyed it to 
Portsmouth ; and he would have run all risque of soundness. 
It grows about eleven miles from Saffron Walden, in a deep 
soil, and near thirty from Cambridge, the nearest place for 
water-carriage. I will measure it next summer.^' He adds, 
I have been, and am a considerable planter, and have been 
honoured with three gold medals from the Society of Arts,^^ 
&c. Thus far Mr. Chiswell. 
As I begin to look upon you as a Selborne man, at least 
as one somewhat interested in the concerns of this place, 
I wish that you could see The sixth Report of the Com- 
missioners appointed to enquire into the state and condition 
of the Woods^ Forests, &c. of the Crown,^^ &c. This Report 
