174 HISTORICAL NOTICE OF CELEBRATED TREES. [July 



more than 12 feet at 2 feet from the ground, while their branches 

 extended over a circular space of 40 feet in diameter. Twenty- 

 seven years afterwards the trunk of the largest one had increased 

 more than half a foot in girth. One planted by Dr. Uvedale in the 

 garden at Enfield, about the middle of the seventeenth century, had 

 a girth of 14 feet in 1789 ; 8 feet of its top had been blown down 

 by the great hurricane in 1703, but still it was 40 feet in height. 

 At Hendon Place in Middlesex, a remarkable cedar was blown down 

 in 1799. It had attained the height of 70 feet. The branches 

 covered an area of 1 feet in diameter ; the trunk was 1 6 feet in 

 circumference at 7 feet from the ground, and 21 feet at the 

 insertion of the great branches 12 feet above the surface. It is 

 supposed to have been planted by Queen Elizabeth ; this was there- 

 fore about 230 years old. Erom such an imperfect data, De Candolle 

 deems some of the trees measured by Eauwolf in 1574 to have been 

 at least 600 years old, which would give the age of nearly 900 

 years to any of them that may be still alive. This estimate may fall 

 considerably below the truth, but our present knowledge will not 

 warrant the assumption of a higher one. Doubtless this remarkable 

 forest has existed from primaeval times, while the oldest individuals, 

 from age to age, have decayed and disappeared. While these 

 remarkable remains of antiquity exist, whether we consider their 

 great age (probably the immediate successors to the very cedars 

 which Hiram nearly 3000 years ago caused to be cut down for the 

 erection of the temple on Mount Zion), if we regard their majestic 

 height, the vast extent of their shade, their perpetual verdure, the 

 enormous girth, the varied form of their branches which change 

 Mith their age, the delightful shadow afforded by their foliage, the 

 delicious scent of the fruit, the undecaying nature of the wood, in 

 whatever respect we advert to the cedars of Lebanon, the remem- 

 brance of former times all conspire to render them emblems of 

 immortality, objects of curiosity, and subjects of admiration. 



{To he cov finned.) 



