who might be likely to undertake it. I want to see the wooden spire removed. It is modern, probably erected about seventy years ago, is quite out of place, and thoroughly destroys the original character of the church. I remember once seeing a charming drawing by Birket Foster, in which the church is without the spire, the gain in picturesqueness being most obvious.

Burnham Beeches: The Drive from Stoke Poges Church-Richard Brinsley Sheridan and George Grote " History Hut "-- The Beeches Unique The Reason for this-An interesting Point-My first Visit with the Camera-Negatives taken-The Age of the Beeches considered in a Letter to the Times-A Discovery-The Beeches put up for Sale-Subsequently bought by the Corporation of the City of London-Girth of some of the Trees" Autumn" blown down-Lines by Henry Luttrell and Mortimer Collins-A Mistake in the Management.

IT is a beautiful drive from Stoke Poges Church to the beeches-an example again of the charming Buckinghamshire lanes: how bright and beautiful are the hedgerows and banks, and how glorious are the wild flowers! Scarcely anywhere can be seen such a wealth of the dog-rose and honeysuckle.

After passing through Farnham Royal, a short drive, East Burnham is reached, where are two houses of historic interest-East Burnham House (formerly East Burnham Cottage), and History Hut. Mr. James Thorne in his

“Handbook to the Environs of London," says, "It was to East Burnham Cottage to which Richard Brinsley Sheridan brought his lovely young bride (Miss Linley) after their furtive flight to Paris, and from which several of his letters, printed in Moore's 'Life of Sheridan,' are addressed. This house was purchased by George Grote in the spring of 1838, when it was enlarged and other land added to it, and then it became East Burnham House. It was in this house Grote 'laid out the scheme' of his ' History of Greece,' and wrote a large part of it. Here he resided until 1852, when, writes Mrs. Grote in her 'Collected Papers,' 'I caused a small Elizabethan house to be built in Popple's Park, and also a range of farm buildings and a labourer's cottage. The house was built from the profits accruing from the "History," and hence was playfully named History Hut. The Grotes sold the property in January, 1858, after having resided in the hamlet, with one short interval, for twenty years.

Within a short distance of East Burnham House are the beeches, and immediately on entering the forest, some of the largest of the old trees are seen.

In the year 1840 I was staying with some friends near Gerrard's Cross, when the daughter of the house-an excellent walker and an admirer of sylvan scenery-offered to take me to Burnham Beeches, five miles or so away. It was a lovely autumn morning when we started.

My introduction to and my first knowledge of the beeches is indelibly impressed on my memory. At this moment I know well all the most celebrated forests and woods in the country, but, to this day, I say that Burnham can well hold its own, and that its beeches are absolutely unique.

Let me give a reason for this opinion, an opinion which will have the support of all artists who have made those grand trees their study, and the subject of their pictures.

I think I know thoroughly the whole of the New Forest, could walk without map or directions to all its best trees; I know, too, Sherwood Forest, and the "Dukeries;" the splendid oaks which are upon the property of Lord Manvers at Thoresby; and some of those which belong to the Duke of Portland.

At Thoresby I have marvelled at the size

and beauty of the old trees and at their clean, straight boles, with a girth that is surprising. How stupendous they are! Walk from the palatial residence at Thoresby to the Buck Gates in the park, and take note of the oaks that are close by, especially those near the gates, which are as fine as any in Sherwood Forest. Then enter the forest and follow the road; right and left trees will be seen that the tree-lover will never forget. A short way on, and the "Queen Oak" comes in view, the grandest and most perfect of them all. Just consider these dimensions: 33 feet round (four feet from the ground), the circumference of the branches being 275 feet.* A little further on is the old patriarch "Simon the Forester," a most picturesque tree.

Welbeck Abbey I know, though not so well, but have no doubt equally fine oaks will be found there. Near the abbey, very many years ago, an act of vandalism ruined one of the grandest of them. A former owner, in an inexcusable moment, speaking of that tree, said he would have an

* Its bole is hollow-twelve persons having been within it at the same time.