180 Proceedings of the 



the theatre, to his work, the " Amoenitates Querneae," then lying 

 on the table. These points were the following: — 



1. The comparative durability of oak, British and foreign ; and 



of the several native species. 



2. Experiments, by which the value of timber for endurance be- 



tween wind and water, hitherto chiefly judged of empirically, 

 or only discovered by premature decay, may be ascertained 

 previously to its employment in naval architecture, and 

 other important works. 



3. The botanical character of the several British species, and 



their varieties. 



4. A notice of the many other trees included by the ancients 



under the common term oak ; and of the use of acorns as 

 food. 



5. Recollections of some of the most remarkable oaks, for size, 



age, &c. &c. 



The two first heads were illustrated by numerous specimens, 

 both of native and foreign oaks, exemplifying the very different 

 qualities of their timber, as to strength, stiffness, elasticity, &c. ; 

 and some of the examples of long enduring wood may be esteemed 

 antiquarian curiosities : for there w^ere upon the table specimens 

 from the roof of Westminster Hall (thought by many to be chest- 

 nut, but shewn by analysis to be oak ;) from Windsor Castle, of 

 the time of Edward III. ; from Prince John's palace, at Eltham, 

 which was an ancient house, when repaired by the Bishop of Dur- 

 ham, A.D. 1310 ; from the piles of the old London bridge ; from 

 a gun-carriage belonging to one of the vessels of the *' Invincible 

 Armada," wrecked A.D. 1588 ; from Greensted Church, built 

 A.D. 1010 — all quite sound ; besides reference being made to the 

 tomb of William de Valance, and the shrine of Edward the Con- 

 fessor, both in Westminster Abbey, which trace upwards of 550 

 years. The oaken coronation chairs, one of which was made for 

 Mary II. 340 years ago ; and the other, the date of which is lost in 

 antiquity, has been in its present situation more than 530 years ; 

 Arthurs round table, in the County Hall at Winchester; the an- 

 cient vessel lately found in the former channel of the Rother ; the 

 canoes discovered in the fens of Lincolnshire ; the stakes at Coway, 

 which it is said the ancient Britons drove into the bed of the 

 Thames, to impede the progress of Julius Caesar, may be likewise 

 named as remarkable oaken relics ; but the wooden figures, found 

 by Belzoni in the tombs at Thebes, are probably, as Tredgold 



