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page 28
[ob]serve that, as many, even of the smallest rills, have
either found, or made for themselves, recesses in the sides
of the mountains or in the vales, they have tempted the
primitive inhabitants to settle near them for shelter; and
hence, cottages so placed, by seeming to withdraw from the
eye, are the more endeared to the feelings.
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woods
trees
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The WOODS consist chiefly of oak, ash, and birch, and here
and there Wych-elm, with underwood of hazle, the white and
black thorn, and hollies; in moist places alders and willows
abound; and yews among the rocks. Formerly the whole country
must have been covered with wood to a great height up the
mountains; where native Scotch firs* must have grown
in great profusion, as they do in the northern part of
Scotland to this day. But not one of these old inhabitants
has existed, perhaps, for some hundreds of years; the
beautiful traces, however, of the universal sylvan†
appearance the country formerly had, yet survive in the
native coppice-woods that have been protected by inclosures,
and also in the forest-trees and hollies, which, though
disappearing fast, are yet
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* This species of fir is in character much superior
to the American which has usurped its place: Where the fir
is planted for ornament, let it be by all means of the
aboriginal species, which can only be procured from the
Scotch nurseries.
† A squirrel (so I have heard the old people of
Wytheburn say) might have gone from their chapel to Keswick
without alighting on the ground.
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