GREAT LIME-TREE. 183 
cumference, which was adorned like one of the 
rooms in the Consul’s palace, and enlivened 
with beautiful fountains of water: it had also 
stately seats and tables variously arranged in it. 
Evelyn further tells us, that there was, at some 
place in Gloucestershire, an oak-tree, which 
having become naturally hollow, was further 
excavated by human art and converted into a 
wainscoted room, which had windows’ with 
pleasant prospects on different sides of the 
tree, and was provided with comfortable seats 
within. How strange the sensation must have 
been to have taken tea with a party of friends 
inside a great living tree! From him also we 
learn, that in a time of war there was an oak in 
Westphalia which was resorted to by a band 
of warriors, who successfully garrisoned and 
defended it, using it as a castle and fort. 
With our improved modes of warfare, such a 
refuge would have been but of little avail. 
Perhaps one of the most remarkable old trees 
is the celebrated Lime-tree at Neustadt, in the 
Duchy of Wurtemburg. So far back as the 
year 1229—six hundred and twenty years ago, 
this Lime-tree was already a very great and 
