THE OAK. 97 



that handsome tower which is so ornamental to the 

 whole building, this tree might probably be in fhe 

 meridian of its glory ; or rather, perhaps, it had at- 

 tained a green old age. It was afterward much injured 

 in the reign of Charles II., when the present walks 

 were laid out. Its roots were disturbed; and from 

 that period it declined fast, and became reduced to a 

 mere trunk. Through a space of 16 yards on every 

 side from its trunk, it once flung its boughs, and 

 under its magnificent pavilion could have sheltered 

 with ease 3000 men. In the summer of 1788, this 

 magnificent ruin fell to the ground." 



" The Cowthorpe Oak, in Yorkshire, measures at 

 its base 78 feet in circumference. The space occu- 

 pied by this tree, where the trunk meets the ground, 

 exceeds the ground-plot of that majestic column, the 

 Eddystone Light-house ; and horizontal slices of Da- 

 morey's Oak would have laid every floor in one piece 

 throughout the whole building." 



The oak and the chestnut are very closely con- 

 nected, not only in their appearance, but also in their 

 general character. The leaves of the chestnut and 

 the chestnut-oak would be mistaken for each other 

 by one unaccustomed to the difference, those of the 

 chestnut being only a little more sharply toothed than 

 the other. 



In California, a species of oak has been discovered, 

 whose mode of flowering, and indeed the whole ap- 

 pearance of the tree, is so similar to that of the chest- 

 nut, as to require the presence of the fruit fully to 

 determine its identity. The wood of each also bears 

 9 G 



