hazel, Ulmus folio latissimo scabro of Ray', which, though it had lost a considerable leading bough in the great

little streams oaks grow kindly. The steep fronts of all the terraces constitute Hangers, and these, on the malm rock, are chiefly covered by oak. One of them is the Oak Hanger, still as well qualified as it was a thousand years since to give name to the hamlet below it.

In the little valleys of this formation, deeply cleft, and narrow, and lengthened out, and well wooded, there is much to please the wanderer. The hollow lanes, cut into the rock to the depth of eighteen or twenty feet, and sometimes (though not generally) offering forms of picturesque beauty, will also interest him. But the highest interest will be excited by the views from the edges of the terraces, ranging from Harteley Park to the south as far as Temple. Along these, wherever the view is not intercepted by the growth of trees rising up above the level of the cliff on the face of which they are rooted, the prospect is every where beautiful. It is especially so at the points in which the terraces are occasionally interrupted, as at the corner of Harteley Park towards Oak Hanger; and at the angle of the Temple terrace looking over the Priory. The views from the terrace immediately adjoining to Temple are magnificent.

Below the rock of the upper green sand formation is the gault; generally presenting a uniform level, of the most fertile character. Within Selborne it exists only as a perfect flat; but to the north, in the forest of The Holt, it rises into hills. It is especially distinguished by the extreme richness of the water-meadows, to which its crops are entirely limited; and by the noble groves and woods of fine oaks that are every where scattered over it. The luxuriant wood of this formation and the greenness of its enclosures, create a fore ground of the richest character to all the prospects from the terraces above it.

Last of the Selborne strata is the lower green sand; which rises, immediately east of the gault, into ridges of various elevation, and having usually a direction not very dissimilar from that of the Hanger. On the verge of this are scattered various farms which have brought into cultivation, in ancient times, portions of the unpromising soil: and in these situations there are meadows, and arable fields, and a few hop-grounds, separated by hedge-rows in which timber trees are growing. But beyond the settlements on the very edge of the sands cultivation quickly ceases; and the lean, hungry waste of Wolmer Forest succeeds, covered almost entirely by heath. Excepting a few trees on its skirts towards Forest Side, the Forest within Selborne is quite destitute of timber. Some plantations of fir have been attempted in various parts of it, which relieve in some degree, by their lengthened lines of green, the dreariness that prevails. More effectual relief is afforded by the ponds which are spread out in various parts of the waste, of which some are so large as to merit the name of little lakes. Such is Wolmer Pond, described by Gilbert White in a subsequent Letter; and such too are the ponds known by the

1 [Ulmus montana, BAUH.]

storm in the year 1703, equal to a moderate tree, yet, when felled, contained eight loads of timber; and, being too bulky for a carriage, was sawn off at seven feet above the butt, where it measured near eight feet in the diameter. This elm I mention to show to what a bulk planted elms may attain; as this tree must certainly have been such from its situation.

In the centre of the village, and near the church, is a square piece of ground surrounded by houses, and vulgarly called The Plestor. In the midst of this spot stood, in old times, a vast oak, with a short squat body, and huge horizontal arms extending almost to the extremity of the area. This venerable tree, surrounded with stone steps, and seats above them, was

names of Hogmer and Cranmer, and the large and almost united ponds at Oak hanger,

To the cultivator this division of the parish is at present almost useless. It is probable that scarcely any of it has been brought into occupation for many ages; and it will be long before much of it can be so far reclaimed as to be at all available for farming purposes.

In the dreariness of the Forest there is a variation from the character of the scenery of the adjacent strata that may interest for a while. There is also a boldness, occasionally, in the form of the ridges, and an abruptness in their terminations, that imparts somewhat of a mountain air to the view. But it is chiefly as an adjunct to the other features of the Selborne prospects that it avails; and in its masses, and its heights, and its waters, it forms a fine termination to most of the more extensive of them.

A general idea of the surface of the country may be formed from thus passing in review the several portions of which it consists, and which succeed each other with perfect regularity. Some idea will also be obtained of the delightful scenery of the neighbourhood in which the author dwelt throughout his life; a scenery infinitely varied according to the extent of the country included in each view, the number of the strata embraced by it, and the relative proportion of each. The combination, in the more extensive of them, of the broad arable flat of the upper lands and their angularly edged terraces and hangers, with the rich meadows and oak woods of the bottom, and the wide and bold wastes and shining waters of the Forest, is above all delightful.

Some such views Mr. Harvey has represented in an account of Selborne and its Vicinity which is now in preparation for the press, and which will be principally devoted to the description and delineation of the more interesting scenes and objects of the district; and to the imparting of other local information relating to the neighbourhood in which Gilbert White lived and died.-E. T. B.

the delight of old and young, and a place of much resort in summer evenings; where the former sat in grave debate, while the latter frolicked and danced before them. Long might it have stood, had not the amazing tempest in 1703 overturned it at once, to the infinite regret of the inhabitants, and the vicar, who bestowed several pounds in setting it in its place again: but all his care could not avail; the tree sprouted for a time, then withered and died. This oak I mention to show to what a bulk planted oaks also may arrive: and planted this tree must certainly have been, as will appear from what will be said further concerning this area when we enter on the antiquities of Selborne 2.

On the Blackmoor estate there is a small wood called Losel's, of a few acres, that was lately furnished with a set of oaks of a peculiar growth and great value; they were tall and taper like firs, but, standing near together, had very small heads, only a little brush without any large limbs 3. About twenty years ago

? The reference in the text to another portion of the volume for other particulars respecting this oak would almost render any explanation in this place unnecessary. It may, however, be shortly stated that The Plestor measures about forty-four yards by thirty-six, and that the oak, whose branches nearly overshadowed this large space, is conjectured by Gilbert White to have been, at the time when it was blown down, four hundred and thirty-two years old.—E. T. B.

On

3 Mr. White only hints in this place at the interesting effects of shelter and exposure on the growth of trees. In the interior of forests and crowded plantations, the wind can exert a far less mechanical effect on individual trees than in exposed situations; and, therefore, while they are positively determined to push upwards to the light, they are negatively permitted to do so by the removal of any necessity to thicken their trunks for the sake of greater strength, and to contract the height of them in order to afford the blast a shorter lever against the roots. the other hand, trees in an open situation are freely exposed to the wind, and the large expansion of their branches gives every advantage to the violence of the storm. Nature accordingly bestows greater proportional elevation [thickness of trunk] on trees which are insulated, or nearly so; while their system of root, which, by necessity, is correlatively proportional to their system of top, affords likewise heavier ballast and a stronger anchorage, in order to counteract the greater spread of sail displayed in the wider expansion of their branches. Trees in the interior of woods, accordingly, are in general found to have their stems upright

the bridge at the Toy, near Hampton Court, being much decayed, some trees were wanted for the repairs that were fifty feet long without bough, and would measure twelve inches diameter at the little end. Twenty such trees did a purveyor find in this little wood, with this advantage, that many of them answered the description at sixty feet. These trees were sold for twenty pounds a piece.

On

In the centre of this grove there stood an oak, which, though shapely and tall on the whole, bulged out into a large excrescence about the middle of the stem. this a pair of ravens had fixed their residence for such a series of years, that the oak was distinguished by the title of The Raven Tree. Many were the attempts of the neighbouring youths to get at this eyry: the difficulty whetted their inclinations, and each was ambitious of surmounting the arduous task. But, when they arrived at the swelling, it jutted out so in their way, and was so far beyond their grasp, that the most daring lads were awed, and acknowledged the undertaking to be too hazardous. So the ravens built on,

nest upon nest, in perfect security, till the fatal day arrived in which the wood was to be levelled. It was in the month of February, when those birds usually sit. The saw was applied to the butt, the wedges were inserted into the opening, the woods echoed to the heavy blows of the beetle or mallet, the tree nodded to its fall; but still the dam sat on. At last, when it gave way, the bird was flung from her nest; and, though her parental affection deserved a better fate, was whipped down by the twigs, which brought her dead to the ground.

and stately; their bark glossy and beautiful; their tops small and thinly provided with branches; and their roots, in the same way, spare and scanty, but in due proportion to the tops. Trees, on the other hand, in open exposures, have their stems stout and short; their bark thick and coarse; their tops extensive and spreading; their branches often reaching to the ground; and their roots extensive like their tops, and throwing themselves out on every side. - RENNIE.

LETTER III.

TO THE SAME.

THE fossil shells of this district, and sorts of stone, such as have fallen within my observation, must not be passed over in silence. And first I must mention, as a great curiosity, a specimen that was ploughed up in the chalky fields, near the side of the Down, and given to me for the singularity of its appearance, which, to an incurious eye, seems like a petrified fish of about four inches long, the cardo passing for a head and mouth. It is in reality a bivalve of the Linnæan genus of Mytilus and the species of Crista Galli; called by Lister, Rastellum; by Rumphius, Ostreum plicatum minus; by D'Argenville, Auris Porci, s. Crista Galli; and by those who make collections, cock's comb. Though I applied to several such in London, I never could meet with an entire specimen; nor could I ever find in books any engraving from a perfect one. In the superb museum at Leicester House1, permission was given me to exa

The superb museum at Leicester House, originally the property of Sir Ashton Lever, and long known as the Leverian Museum, is characterized by Pennant as magnificent and instructive, and as "the most astonishing collection of the subjects of natural history ever collected, in so short a space, by any individual. To the disgrace of our kingdom, after the first burst of wonder was over, it became neglected; and when it was offered to the public, by the chance of a guinea lottery, only eight thousand out of thirty-six thousand tickets were sold. Finally, the capricious goddess frowned on the spirited proprietor of such a number of tickets, and transferred the treasure to the possessor of only two, Mr. Parkinson." The successful candidate for fortune's favours proved that they were not ill bestowed upon him, by continually adding, in the most liberal manner, to the collection which had thus come into his possession, and by building, expressly for its reception, near the south end of Blackfriars Bridge, a house (subsequently appropriated to the Surrey Institution) in which the specimens of natural history and of art, of which the museum consisted, were exhibited for many years. They were finally disposed of by auction, in 1806. Some idea may be formed of the extent of the collection at that time by the duration of the sale for sixty-five days, and by the number of the lots, which amounted to 7879.E. T. B.