CHAP. CII. SALICA‘CER. — SA‘LIX. 1519 
a favourite tree of the doctor’s, and to have attracted his attention for many 
years : indeed, to use his own expression, it was the delight of his early and 
waning life ; and it is said that he never failed to visit it whenever he went 
to Lichfield; and, during his visit to that city in the year 1781, he desired 
Dr. Trevor Jones, a physician of that place, to give him a description of it, 
saying it was by much the largest tree of the kind he had ever seen or heard 
of, and therefore wished to give an account of it in the Philosophical T'rrans- 
actions, that its size might be recorded. Dr. Jones, in compliance with his re- 
quest, furnished him with the particular dimensions of the tree, which were 
as follows :— The trunk rose to the height of 12 ft. 85,in., and then divided 
into 15 large ascending branches, which, in very numerous and crowded 
subdivisions, spread at the top in a circular form, not unlike the appearance 
of a shady oak, inclining a little‘towards the east. The circumference of 
the trunk at the bottom was 15 ft. 9,4, in. ; in the middle, 11 ft. 10in.; and 
at the top, immediately below the branches, 13 ft. The entire height of the 
tree was 49 ft.; and the circumference of the branches, at their extremities, 
upwards of 200 ft., overshadowing a plane not far short of 4000 ft. The 
surface of the trunk was very uneven, and the bark much furrowed. The 
tree had then (Nov. 29. 1781) a vigorous and thriving appearance. The 
most moderate computation of its age was, at that time, near fourscore years ; 
and some respectable authorities were strongly inclined to think that a 
century had passed over its head.” The tree stood near the public foot- 
path in the fields between the city of Lichfield and Stow Hill, the residence 
of the celebrated “ Molly Ashton;” and it is said that Dr. Johnson fre- 
quently rested under its shade when on his way to the house of that lady, 
whom he never failed to visit periodically, till a short period before his 
death. (See Croker’s edition of Boswell’s Johnson.) There is a portrait of 
Johnson’s Willow given as a frontispiece to the Salictum Woburnense ; but, 
as that figure has much more the appearance of a spreading beech than of 
a willow of any kind, we were induced to doubt its fidelity. We ac- 
cordingly made enquiries, through a friend at Lichfield, respecting the 
original tree; and we have satisfied ourselves that the portrait. alluded to 
bears very little resemblance to what Johnson’s Willow was at any stage of 
its growth; or, at least, at any time since the year 1810. (See Gard. Mag., 
vol. xii. p. 716 ; and vol. xiii. p. 94.) There are two engravings of Johnson’s 
Willow in the Gentleman’s Magazine for 1785; one of these, a south-west 
view of the tree, taken in July, 1785, by Mr. Stringer, and which may be con- 
sidered as representing the appearance of the tree at Dr. Johnson’s death, is 
copied to the reduced scale of 1 in. to 12 ft. in fg. 1312. From this period, 
the tree appears to have gradually increased in size till April, 1810, when Dr. 
Withering found the trunk to girt 21 ft. at 6 ft. from the ground, and to extend 
20 ft. in height, before dividing into enormous ramifications : the trunk and 
branches were then perfectly sound, and the very extensive head showed 
unimpaired vigour. In November of the same year, however, many of 
the branches were swept away in a violent storm; and nearly half of what 
remained of the tree fell to the ground in August, 1815, leaving little more 
than its stupendous trunk, and afew side boughs. We have seen a portrait 
of the tree by Mr. Stringer, made in 1816, which was kindly lent to us by 
that gentleman, by which it appears to have been then considerably muti- 
lated, and in a state of decay, This decay was accelerated by a fire made 
in the hollow of the trunk by some boys, in 1825, and which would pro- 
bably have consumed the tree, had not Mr. Stringer, whose garden nearly 
adjoins it, seen flames proceeding from the trunk, and sent some of his men 
for the town engine to extinguish the fire. In April, 1829, the tree was 
blown down in a violent storm, which took place on the 29th of that month, 
about 3 o’clock in the afternoon, A drawing was taken of the tree as it lay 
on the ground, from which a lithograph was published, representing its appear- 
ance before its fall; and from this lithograph fig. 1313. is reduced to the 
seale of lin. to 12 ft. 
26 
