CHAP. CV. CORYLA‘CEE. QUE’RCUS. 1761 
an arrow, shot by Sir Walter Tyrrell at a stag, glanced and struck King 
William II., surnamed Rufus, on the breast, of which stroke he instantly 
died, on the 2d of August, 1100.” “ King William II. being thus slain, 
was laid in a cart belonging to one Purkess, and drawn from hence to Win- 
chester, and buried in the cathedral church of that city.” “ That the spot 
where an event so memorable happened might not hereafter be unknown, 
this stone was set up by John Lord Delaware, who has seen the tree growing 
in this place.” (Gilpin’s Forest Scen., i. p. 167.) This stone was erected in 
1745 ; and it is said that, in the reign of Charles II., the oak was paled round 
by that monarch’s command, in order to its preservation. This tree appears to 
have blossomed at Christmas, like the Cadenham Oak, mentioned below. 
The Cadenham Oak, about three miles from Lyndhurst, is another of the 
remarkable trees of the New Forest. This tree, which buds every year at 
Christmas, is mentioned by Camden. “ Having often heard of this oak,” 
says Gilpin, “ I took a ride to see it on the 29th of December, 1781. It was . 
pointed out to me among several other oaks, surrounded by a little forest 
stream, winding round a knoll on which they stood. It is a tall straight 
plant, of no great age, and apparently vigorous, except that its top has been 
injured, from which several branches issue in the form of pollard shoots. It 
was entirely bare of leaves, as far as I could discern, when I saw it, and un- 
distinguishable from the other oaks in its neighbourhood; except that its 
bark seemed rather smoother, occasioned, I apprehended, only by frequent 
climbing. Having had the account of its early budding confirmed on the spot, 
I engaged one Michael Lawrence, who kept the White Hart, a small alehouse 
in the neighbourhood, to send me some of the leaves to Vicar’s Hill as soon 
as they should appear. The man, who had not the least doubt about the 
matter, kept his word, and sent me several twigs on the 5th of January, 1782, 
a few hours after they had been gathered. The leaves were fairly expanded, 
and about lin. in length. From some of the buds two leaves had unsheathed 
themselves, but, in general, only one.” (For. Scen., i. p.171.) One of the 
young trees raised from this oak at Bulstrode was not only in leaf, but had 
its flower buds perfectly formed, on December 21. 1781; so that this property 
of coming early into leaf had been communicated to its offspring. “ The 
early spring of the Cadenham Oak,” Gilpin continues, “ is of very short du- 
ration. The buds, after unfolding themselves, make no further progress, but 
immediately shrink from the season, and die. The tree continues torpid, like 
other deciduous trees, during the remainder of the winter, and vegetates 
again in the spring, at the usual season.” When “in full leaf in the middle 
of summer, it appeared, both in its form and foliage, exactly like other oaks.” 
(J6id., p. 174.) Another tree, with the same property of early germination, 
has been found near the spot where Rufus’s monument stands. This seems 
to authenticate Camden’s account of the death of that prince; for he speaks 
of the premature vegetation of the tree against which Tyrrell’s arrow 
glanced; and this may be one of its descendants. (See Camden’s Account of 
the New Forest.) 
- The Bentley Oak, in Holt Forest, according to a letter from R. Marsham, 
Esq., in the Bath Society’s Papers, was, in 1759, 34 ft. in circumference at 
7 ft. from the ground, and was found, 20 years afterwards (viz. in 1778), to 
have increased only half an inch. Mr. Marsham accounts for taking the 
measure so far from the ground, by mentioning that there was an excres- 
cence about 5 ft. or 6 ft. high,'which would have rendered the measure unfair. 
At Beaulieu Abbey, Gilpin observes, there was, some years ago, “ a very 
extraordinary instance of vegetation. The main stem of an oak arose in 
contact with a part of the wall, which was entire, and extended one of its 
principal limbs along the summit of it. This limb, at the distance of a few 
yards from the parent tree, finding a fissure in the wall, in which there might 
petty be some deposit of soil, shot a root through it into the earth, 
hence shooting up again through another part of the wall, it formed a new 
stem, as large as the original tree; and from this proceeded another horizontal 
5Y 2 
