OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. 13

*« It will hold good to cover the lath and pin, or nail, in the under side of slate and tiled roofs, by starting or rough drawing the same, so as to cover the Jath,&c. close. My first observation of this simple method was about twenty years ago, being witness to the pulling down of an old timbered house, dated 1564; between cach beam was pieces of ash wood, with split ash and hazel laths, and plastered on each side with lime or plaster mortar; where the plaster was free from cracks, the laths and the bark of them, was as sound and fresh as if they had not been cut down three months, but where the cracks had admitted the air, every part of the lath,&c. was reduced to nothing. I have lost no opportunity since my first observation, to examine the old ruins, and where I-have found any old timber within those walls that had been run with thin mortar, the same has been sound and fresh, though the building has been in ruins for two centuries.