132 
MATURE NOTES. 
and leaving them to pursue their way, whether by land or water, 
let us pause awhile and muse yet longer than they on this 
river-islet. 
Could it have been mere chance that destined these trees to 
grow and grow, and flourish so surpassingly on this narrow strip 
of green ? Surely it was their destiny to form a veritable, and 
to the eye almost impermeable, wall of leafage, that should serve 
to hide from view the gloomy range of gas-works, factories and 
coal-Avharves that have sprung up on the Middlesex bank long 
since the mightier of the trees took root. A noble gift of Nature, 
and just where most needed ; and yet by a strange irony it is on 
the point of perishing — perishing where it least can be spared, 
slipping from the grasp of those who would save it, because they 
whose duty it is to do so absolutely refuse to exercise their 
responsibility. 
The cause of this imminent destruction is now, thanks to the 
efforts of certain of the London papers, and still more to the 
vigorous protests of the local press at Richmond, too well known 
to need any words of mine to enlarge upon it ; the story of the 
banks being undermined by the tide in such a way as to imperil 
the existence of the island, and with it the glorious clothing of 
elm and chestnut : all this is in the ears of the readers of this 
magazine, and many beyond its circle. Questions have been 
asked in Parliament, meetings have been held, all with a view 
to urging upon the custodians of the Ait, the Commissioners of 
Woods and Forests, the necessity of taking some means to pro- 
tect the banks, and of going to a small expense that the whole 
island with its trees, the screen to the ugly blot on the landscape 
behind them, may be saved. And what, forsooth, is the only 
reply they have to offer ? “ The island is being undermined ? 
If so, serious danger is threatened to passing steamers by the 
tottering trees ; down and away with them and the island too ! ” 
Such is the gist of the only answer and proposal made by the 
negligent curators. Can it be possible that their vandal-like 
spirits cannot appreciate the beauty of the island, even to the 
extent of spending a small sum to keep it intact ? or is it that 
some philistine minds among them are quick to appreciate the 
fact that there will be a good margin of profit from the sale of 
the felled timber, when all expenses of sawing it down have 
been paid ? 
The Ait is just as much a gem of natural beauty as West- 
minster Abbey, and King’s College Chapel at Cambridge are of 
the beauty of architecture. Who would not doubt the sanity 
of the man who suggested razing to the ground either of those 
sacred edifices if their foundations were weak, when it was 
possible in the least degree to keep them intact ? Hundreds of 
thousands would be spent before such measures were resorted to. 
Moreover, its position is close to Kew Gardens, just at the 
very spot where both Englishmen and foreigners of cultivated 
taste, who are consequently the first to set a high value upon 
