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LETTER II.

TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQUIRE.

N the court of Norton farm-house, a manor farm to the north-west of the village, on the white malms, stood within these twenty years a broad-leaved elm, or wych hazel, Ulmus folio latissimo scabro of Ray,' which, though it had lost a considerable leading bough in the great 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 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

1 Ulmus montanus of modern botanists, and the common elm of the north of England and Scotland. It is a valuable timber tree, and of very different growth from that which is generally termed the common elm, Ulmus campestris, seldom presenting so fine a bole as the latter, or attaining so large a size.-ED.

2 The Plestor, originally called Pleystow, or play-place, was granted, as it subsequently appears, to the prior and convent of Selborne, in 1271, by Sir Adam Gurdon and wife, as "all his right and claim to a certain place (placca) called 'la Pleystow' in the village aforesaid, 'in liberam, puram, et perpetuam elemosinam.'' It is still used as a place for recreation by the village children.-ED.

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.1

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." About twenty years ago 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.

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. On this a pair of ravens had fixed their residence for such a series of

1 The Plestor, as it subsequently appears, measured about forty-four yards by thirty-six, and 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. -ED.

2 We have here a hint at the different effects of shelter and exposure on the growth of trees. Those in the interior of woods generally have their stems upright, their bark glossy, 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. Those, on the other hand, in exposed situations, have their stems stout and short, their bark thick and coarse, their tops spreading, and their roots in the same way throwing themselves out in every direction.-ED.

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

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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.

LETTER III.

TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQUIRE.

HE 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 House,' permission was given me to examine for this article; and though I was disappointed as to the fossil, I was highly gratified with the sight of several of the shells themselves in high preservation. This bivalve is only known to inhabit the Indian ocean, where it fixes itself to a zoophyte, known by the name Gorgonia. The curious foldings of the suture the

1 This was originally the property of Sir Ashton Lever, and long known as the Leverian Museum. Pennant characterized it as "the most astonishing collection of the subjects of natural history ever collected, in so short a space, by any individual." The specimens of natural history and of art, which it contained, were exhibited for many years, but 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, which lasted for sixty-five days, and by the number of the lots, which amounted to 7879.-ED.

one into the other, the alternate flutings or grooves, and the curved form of my specimen being much easier expressed

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by the pencil than by words, I have caused it to be drawn and engraved.1

Cornua Ammonis are very common about this village.2

1 This is not the analogue of the cock's comb oyster, but belongs to a different species which has not any living analogue, so far as is known. The figures given above, which are copied from those of the original edition, represent a shell of the Ostræa carinata of Lamarck, so called on account of the strong ridge or keel along the middle of each of its valves. Though both are plaited oysters, the plaits or folds in each are disposed in a different manner: in the cock's comb oyster they are in the longitudinal direction of the shell, which, moreover, is rounded in its general outline; in the keeled oyster they pass transversely on each side from the ridge or keel.

The statement in the text, that White's specimens were obtained in chalky fields, renders it necessary, as Mr. Bennett has judiciously remarked, to caution the reader against regarding it as a chalk fossil. The fields below the chalk downs at Selborne, though white in the appearance of their soil-locally termed white malm-belong in truth to the formation known to geologists by the singularly inappropriate name of green sand. To this formation the keeled oyster is peculiar ; and it appears even to be limited, as a fossil, to the upper green sand, the stratum on which the village of Selborne is built, and of which the immediately adjacent enclosures consist.-ED.

2 The Rev. J. Mitford has said the same thing of Keynsham, between Bath and Bristol, adding that "This has given rise to a fabulous legend, which says that St. Keyna, from whom the place takes its name, resided here in a solitary wood, full of venomous serpents, and her prayers converted them into stones, which still retain their shape."-See Espriella's Letters from England, vol. iii. p. 362.-ED.

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