ON BRITISH OAKS. 47 
taper for a height of 30 feet, is in vigorous health, and a fine 
timber tree. No. 4 is in a glen near the Monk’s Cave. It girths 
at the top of the trunk, which is 12 feet long, 28 feet, and at the 
bottom 31 feet. 
The ‘ Queen’s Oak” grows at Grafton, Northamptonshire. Sir 
John Grey of Groby, who fell at the battle of St Albans, being a 
zealous Lancastrian, his estates were forfeited by the victorious 
Edward, and under this oak, according to tradition, his widow 
first met Edward IV., whom she had sought to implore the resti- 
tution of her slain husband’s forfeited estates. Edward was 
captivated with her person and manners, and finding her virtue 
inflexible, was married to her, though the marriage was not 
proclaimed till some months afterwards. This lady’s name was 
HKlizabeth Wideville, daughter of Richard, Earl Rivers, and the 
first British lady subsequent to the Norman Conquest who shared 
the throne of her sovereign, The hollow trunk has a circumfer- 
ence of 22 feet at 5 feet up. 
The ‘‘ Yardley” or “ Cowper’s Oak,” also called “ Judith,” from 
an old legend that it had been planted by the Conqueror’s niece 
Judith, Countess of Northumberland, who held eighty-eight manors 
in Northamptonshire, including a portion of Yardley. On the tree 
is fastened this warning—‘“ Out of respect to the memory of the 
poet Cowper. The Marquis of Northampton is particularly 
desirous of preserving this oak. Notice is hereby given that any 
person defacing or otherwise injuring it will be prosecuted accord- 
ing to law.” The tree is a ruin, with a hollow trunk broken 
through below, and capable of holding many persons. There are 
two or three bare limbs, from which the bark has fallen, showing 
like whitened skeletons against the lichened and knotted rind of 
the trunk, and there are at least two large boughs which still send 
out their clusters of green leaves. The circumference is 30 feet 
6 inches at 1 foot up, and 30 feet at 3 feet up. 
The ‘ Bull Oak,” in Wedgenock Park, Warwick, was a remark- 
able tree, now only a ruin, with a butt 18 feet in diameter at 
the ground. Growing from among its roots is a beautiful ash 
tree. 
In Stoneleigh Park, Warwick, near the Abbey, there are many 
fine oaks. One has a circumference of 24 feet, and is a perfect 
model of an oak. Another in the Deer Park has a circumference 
of 36 feet 9 inches. 
“ King Charles’ Oak,” in Blenheim Park, Oxfordshire, is a very 
