[ 26 ] 
“ faltus numerofi, ferarum latebrae, cervornm, dama- 
“ rum, aprorum, et taurorum fylveftrium.” 
Mr. Miller alfo mentions, that fome ftumps of de- 
cayed chefnuts have been feen not far from the me- 
tropolis ; he does not, however, particularize the fpot, 
and it fliould feem therefore, that he had received this 
information from others. 
Moft antiquaries fuppofe, that Old London was 
chiefly built with this kind of timber from thefe fo- 
refts ; there is not the leafl; appearance, however, of 
any fuch tree at prefent within twenty miles of Lon- 
don, which may not be accounted for, as being of 
infinitely a more modern introduction than the time 
of Henry the Second, when Fitz-Stevens wrote. 
I remember the having once been prefent myfelf, 
when a wager on this head was won j it being fup- 
pofed that a fmall fpecimen of a beam, from a very 
ancient houfe in Chancery-lane, was of this wood j 
which turned out to be nothing but common oak. 
When you, therefore, lately put into my hands an- 
other fuch fpecimen of fuppofed chefnut, from the old 
hall of Clifford’s Inn, I knew it immediately to be 
only the common oak. 
As I had, however, at that time, an opportunity of 
proving this to a demonftration, by fending into the 
country for part of an oaken beam from a very an- 
cient flable, and alfo a piece of Spanifh chefnut, which 
grew near; I fhall, for your further fatisfaClion, fend 
three fpecimens, which you will compare where the 
wood hath been cut tranfverfly, and where they arc 
marked with ink at top and bottom. 
The large irregular piece, marked C/., is the fup- 
pofed chefnut from Clifford’s Inn. 
The 
