CHAP. CV. CORYLA CEE. QUE’RCUS. 1767 
tree, and is probably but little altered during the last century. 
The difference between the two engravings of it was so great, 
that we wrote to the Duke of Portland to ascertain the pre- 
sent state of the tree; and we have been informed by His Grace, 
that Major Rooke’s portrait still affords a correct representa- 
tion of it. “In 1724, a roadway was cut through its vene- 
rable trunk, higher than the entrance to Westminster Abbey, 
and sufficiently capacious to permit a carriage and four horses to pass through 
it.” (Strutt’s Sylva.) The dimensions of this tree are thus given by Major 
Rooke : —“ Circumference of the trunk above the arch, 35 ft. 3in.; height of 
the arch, 10ft. 3in.; width of the arch about the 
middle, 6 ft. 3in.; height to the top branch, 54 ft.” 
Major Rooke’s drawing, which is the same view of 
the tree as that in Hunter’s Evelyn, which we have 
copied in fig. 1609., was made at the same time as 
that of the Gamekeeper’s Tree, viz. in 1779. Ac- 
cording to Hunter’s Evelyn, about 1646 this oak was 
88 ft. high, with a trunk girting 33 ft. lin.; the dia- 
meter of the head 81 ft. ‘ There are three great arms 
broken and gone, and eight very large ones yet remain- 
ing, which are very fresh and good timber.” - bs 
The Parliament Oak (fig. 1610.) grows in Clip- 1609 
stone Park, and derives its name from a parliament 
having been held under it, by Edward I., in 1290. The girt of this tree is 
28ft. Gin. Clipstone Park is also the property of the Duke of Portland, and 
is supposed to be the oldest park in England, having been a park before the 
Conquest, and having been then seized by 
William, and made a royal demesne. Both 
John and Edward I. resided, and kept a 
court, in Clipstone Palace. In Birchland, 
in Sherwood Forest, there is an old oak, 
which measures, near the ground, 34 ft. 4 in. 
in circumference; and at 6ft., 31 ft. 9in. 
“ The trunk, which is wonderfully distorted, 
plainly appears to have been much larger ; 
and the parts from which large pieces have 
fallen off are distinguishable. The inside 
is decayed and hollowed by age; and 1 
think,” adds Major Rooke, “no one can 1610 
behold this majestic ruin without pronouncing it to be of very remote an- 
tiquity ; and I might venture to say that it cannot be much less than 1000 
years old.” (p. 14.) 
In Worksop Park, according to the record quoted in Hunter’s Evelyn, 
there were some noble trees about 1646. One of these, when cut down, 
measured from 29 ft. to 30ft. in circumference throughout the bole, which 
was 10 ft. long. Another tree had a head 180 ft. in diameter, and was com- 
puted to cover half an acre of ground. Other trees, 40 ft. in the bole, gave 
2 ft. square of timber at the upper end. The Lord’s Oak girted 38 ft. 4in. 
The Shire Oak, which is still standing, had then a head 90 ft. in diameter, which 
extended into three counties (York, Nottingham, and Derby), and dripped over 
777 square yards. 
Oxfordshire. Of the Magdalen, or Great, Oak of Oxford, Gilpin gives the 
following interesting notice: —“ Close by the gate of the water walk of Mag- 
dalen College, Oxford, grew an oak, which, perhaps, stood there a sapling 
when Alfred the Great founded the university. This period only includes a 
space of 900 roms which is no great age for an oak. It is a difficult matter 
to ascertain the age of a tree. The age of a castle or abbey is the object of 
history: even a common house is recorded by the family who built it. All 
these objects arrive at maturity in their youth, if I may so speak. But the 
