1 754 . ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART 111. 



circumference ; and the diameter of its head is 85 ft. The species is Q. sessi- 

 HHora. 



Bcrlcshirc. Chaucer is said to have planted three trees, that formerly grew in 

 Donnin<,'ton Park, near Newbury. The largest, or King's Oak, had an erect 

 trunk, 50 ft. in height before any bough or knot appeared, a very unusual cir- 

 cumstance in the oak; and, when felled, cut 5ft. square at the but end, all 

 clear timber. The second, or Queen's Oak, gave a beam 40 ft. long, of excellent 

 timber, perfectly straight in growth and grain, without spot or blemish, 4 ft. in 

 diameter at the stub, and nearly :i ft. at the top ; " besides a fork of almost 

 10 ft. clear timber above the shaft, which was crowned with a shady tuft of 

 boughs, amongst which were some branches on each side curved like rams' 

 horns, as if they had been industriously bent by hand. This oak was of a 

 kind so excellent, cutting a grain clear as any clap-board, as appeared in the 

 wainscot that was made thereof, that it is a thousand pities some seminary of 

 the acorns had not been propagated to preserve the species." {Evelyn's Syha, 

 book iii.) Chaucer's oak, according to Evelyn, was somewhat inferior to its 

 companion ; " yet was it a very goodly tree." It has been confidently as- 

 serted, that the planter of these oaks, or, at least, one of them, was Chaucer; 

 but Professor Burnet thinks " their size renders it more probable that they 

 owned a much earlier date; and that, as then fine trees, they were the favourite 

 resort of the pilgrim bard." This opinion is corroborated by the legend told 

 by the country people, that Chaucer wrote several of his poems under the 

 oak that bears his name ; and the fact, that Chaucer actually spent several of 

 the latter years of his life at Donnington. 



In Windsor Forest, there are several celebrated oaks : one of these, the 

 King Oak, is said to have been a favourite tree of William the Conqueror, 

 who°made this a royal forest, and enacted laws for its preservation. This oak, 

 which stands near the enclosure of Cranbourn, is 26 ft. in circumference at 

 3 ft. from the ground. It is supposed to be the largest and oldest oak in Wind- 

 sor Forest, being above 1000 years old. It is quite hollow : the space within 

 is trom 7 ft. to 8 ft. in diameter, and the entrance is about 4^ ft. high, and 2 ft. 

 wide. " We lunched in it," says Professor Burnet, " September 2. 1829 : 

 it would accommodate at least 20 persons with standing room ; and 10 or 12 

 might sit down comfortably to dinner. I think, at Willis's and in Guildhall, 

 I have danced a quadrille in a smaller space." {Ama-n. Qncr., fol. x. ; and Eido- 

 dendron, pi. 29.) Queen Anne's Oak, says Professor Burnet, " is a tree of 

 uncommon height and beauty, under which tradition says that Queen Anne, 

 who often hunted in Wiiuisor Forest, generally came to mount her horse." 

 The tree is marked by a brass plate; and there is an engraving of it in Bur- 

 gess's Eidodcndron, pi. 25. " Pope's Oak, in Binfield Wood, Windsor Forest, 

 has the words ' Here Pope sang' inscribed upon it. Queen Charlotte's 

 Oak is a very beautiful [)ollard, of prodigious size, which stands in Windsor 

 Forest, in an elevated situation, commanding a fine view of the country round 

 Maitlenhead. It was a favourite tree of Queen Charlotte's; and George IV. 

 had a brass plate with her name fixed on it." {Amoen. Qua:, fol. x. ; and Eid., 

 pi. 2<).) Heme's Oak, in Windsor Park, has been immortalised by Shakspeare; 

 and the remains of its trunk were lately 24 ft. in circumference. Heme was a 

 keeper in the forest some time before the reign of Elizabeth, who hanged him- 

 self on this oak, from the dread of being disgraced for some offence which he 

 had committed ; and his ghost was believed to haunt the spot. The following 

 account of this tree is given in that very entertaining work, Jesse's Gleanings : 

 " The next interesting tree, however, at Windsor, for there can be little doubt 

 of its identity, is the celebrated Heme's Oak. There is, indeed, a story pre- 

 valent in the neighbourhood respecting its destruction. It was stated to have 

 been felled by command of his late majesty, George III., about fifty years 

 ago (1784), undei- peculiar circumstances. The whole story, the details of 

 which it is unnecessary to enter upon, appeared so imjirobablc, that I have 

 taken some pains to ascertain the inaccuracy of it, and have now every reason 

 to believe that it is perfectly unfounded. Heme's Oak is probably still stand- 



