““GREEN DALE CABINET.” 35 
for its antiquity, grand in its hoary age, and eminent above 
most in its picturesqueness and strikingly singular character, this 
* Monarch of the Forest ’—the “ Methusaleh of Trees,” as it has 
not inaptly been called—still stands, a living relic of long-past 
ages, and surrounded with a halo of historic and traditionary 
interest. It stands, in all its “forest pride,” a complete wreck of 
its former self, but finer than ever in its picturesque aspects, and 
grand and solemn as a ruin. 
When Hayman Rooke, in 1790, wrote his “ Description and 
Sketches of some Remarkable Oaks in the Park at Welbeck,” 
he spoke of this as being “thought to be above seven hundred 
years old; and, from its appearance, there is every reason to 
suppose that it has attained that age at least,” while Thoresby, in 
his “ Thoroton,” supposed it, when he wrote, to be upwards of 
1,500 years old, thus making a difference of eight hundred 
years in the computations of contemporary authorities ! 
In Evelyn’s time, it was 33 feet in circumference at the bottom, 
the breadth of the boughs was 88 feet, covering a space equal 
to 676 square feet. In 1776, on the plate that accompanied 
Dr. Hunter’s edition of the “Sylva,” the measurements are 
given as:—Diameter of trunk near the ground, 12 feet; 
diameter of trunk at the top of the arch, 11 feet; girth 
of ditto, 34 feet ro inches; diameter of trunk at widest part 
above the top of the arch, 13 feet 3 inches; height of the tree 
from the ground to top of highest branch, 53 feet 6 inches; height 
of the archway, 10 feet 2 inches; width of archway, 6 feet 2 
inches.” Major Hayman Rooke, in 1790, gave the measurement 
as :—“The circumference of the trunk, above the arch, is 35 feet 
3 inches ; the height of the arch, 1o feet 3 inches ; width about 
the middle, 6 feet 3 inches ; height to the top branch, 54 feet.” 
The trunk of this gigantic tree having a century or two back 
become hollow with age, and so much decayed that large open- 
ings occurred in its sides, the opening was, in 1724, sufficiently 
- enlarged by cutting away the decayed wood to allow a carriage 
of the ordinary size, both in height and width, or three horsemen 
riding abreast, to pass through it. 
