military station, with peculiar advantages for commerce; and the hills above the Severn were positions of strength and consequence. The surrounding country was much peopled with Romans and Romanized Britons; the remains of their baths and villas are even now discovered, and tessellated pavements often point out the site of ruined mansions, amid the wildest and most romantic scenery. The antiquary surveys them with emotions of deep interest, and a naturalist may certainly be excused, if, while gathering a favourite flower from the site of Saxon mounds, or off the ruin of some fane or villa, he has wandered from his subject, to retrace a portion of that history, which is so deeply interwoven with the woods and valleys of his native village. of our But the beech-woods constitute the grace village. Standing singly, or in groups, the beech is a noble tree, and none are more beautiful in parks or grounds, as they throw out branches regularly, and droop them almost to the root. Yet they are sometimes clear of boughs to a considerable height. In the vale of Dudcombe, especially, and as you follow a narrow winding path from the Queen's cottage, near the Roman villa, their grey smooth trunks, extending as far as the eye can reach, convey an idea of boundless solitude and interminable shade. But perhaps the finest specimens are in Standish Park,* on that bold calcareous declivity which commands an extensive view of a rich vale country, watered by the Severn. Thus situated, open to the sun and air, and in a favourable soil, their dimensions are gigantic, and their appearance extremely picturesque. We have also many of Grey's old nodding beeches, with their fantastic roots, and twisted boughs. At certain intervals of time, the woodcutters go through their respective districts, and mark such young trees as require moving, which they cut off at about four or five inches from the root. If this be done with a saw, the tree never revives, all the sap vessels are thrown open, and the rain soaking in destroys them; if with a hatchet, scions spring up on either side. Two, or more stately trees are thus frequently nourished by one root; but if any check is given, or the saplings are again removed, the next shoots become dwarfish, and wreathe in the most fantastic On the tortuous boughs of one, you may find a seat close to the ground; the twisted branches of another afford a shelter from wind and manner. * About four miles distant from the village, the property of Lord Sherborne. rain; sometimes a range of mossy seats surprise you in the midst of pathless woods, and I once remember to have found a group of stunted beech trees, so closely woven together, that the large cattle which browsed upon them were unable to force a passage. The interior was about the size of a small apartment, and what might have been called a door-way, led into it: thither the sheep would run for shelter, if alarmed by the barking of a dog; and he, who looked through the opening in hot sultry weather, might see it nearly filled with those innocent creatures. But the most curious of these picturesque beeches is in a narrow lane leading from the Cheltenham-road to the hamlet of Paradise. Twenty-five separate stems spring apparently from one root, which wreathes fantastically over a steep scarry bank. I have carefully examined that beech, but have never been able to satisfy myself whether it is one single tree, or two grown together—the latter I rather think to be the case. This curious specimen assimilates in character, though not in size, with a majestic beech on an island of the lake Wetter, and about the farthest northern range of that kind of forest tree. It was called the twelve apostles, from its dividing into as many great stems, and bore on its bark the names of several distinguished visitors, with those |