1764 



AIIBORETIIM AND rUUriCFrUM. 



PAIIT III. 



1602 



IGO.i 



quite hollow, and the cavity large enough to 

 hoUi at least '30 persons. An arm was lilown 

 oft' in 1811, which contained 2 waggon loads 

 of wood. {Amcvn. Qiicr., fol. 14.) A drawing 

 of this tree, of which^^^ lOO.'i. is a copy, was 

 sent to us by Samuel Taylor, I'>s(|., of VVhit- 

 tington, near Stoke Ferry, Norfolk, accom- 

 panied by the following observations : — " Of 

 the age of this remarkable tree 1 regret to be 

 unable to give any correct data. It is said to 

 have been called the ' Old Oak' at the time 

 of William the Conqueror, but upon what 

 authority I could never learn. Nevertheless, 

 the thing is not impossible, if the speculations 

 of certain writers on the age of trees be at all correct. Mr. South, in one of 

 his letters to the Bath Society (vol. x.), calculates that an oak tree 47 ft. in 

 circumference cannot be less than 1500 years old; and Mr. Marsham calcu- 

 lates the Bentley Oak, from its girting 34 ft., to be the same age. Now, an 

 inscription on a brass plate affixed to the Winfarthing 

 Oak gives us the following as its dimensions : — " This 

 oak, in circumference, at the extremities of the roots, 

 is 70 ft.; in the middle. 40 ft. 1820." Now, I see no 

 reason, if the size of the rind is to be any criterion of 

 age, why the Winfarthing should not, at least, equal the 

 Bentley Oak ; and, if so, it would be upwards of 700 

 years old at the Conquest ; an age which might very well 

 justify its then title of the 'Old Oak.' It is now a mere shell — a mighty 

 ruin, bleached to a snowy white ; but it is magnificent in its decay ; and I do 

 wonder much that Mr. Strutt should have omitted it in his otherwise satis- 

 factory list of tree worthies. The only mark of vitality it exhibits is on the 

 south side, where a narrow strip of bark sends forth the few branches shown 

 in the drawing, which even now occasionally [)roduce acorns. It is said to 

 be very much altered of late; but I own I did not think so when I saw it 

 about a month ago (May, 183G); and my acquaintance with the veteran is of 

 more than 40 years' standing ; an important portion of mi/ life, but a mere 

 span o( its own." (Gard. Mag., vol. xii. p. 586.) 



NortJtampton.'ihire. This county is celebrated for its forests, which are said 

 to be sufficient in themselves to build more than twice the number of shij)s 

 which now compose the British navy. There are, also, a great number of old 

 trees in this county ; probably because the inland situation of it renderetl the 

 conveyance of timber to the coast too expensive. Some of the most inte- 

 resting of these trees stood in Yardlcy Chase, which was once a part of Salcey 

 Forest, though it has been long disforesteil, and is now the property of the 

 Marquess of Northampton. In Hayley's Life and Postlinmom JVriting.^ of 

 WilUam Cowper, at the end of the third volume, there is an interesting 

 poetic fragment, entitleil " Yardley Oak," of which the following explanation 

 is given in a letter from Dr. Johnson, a kinsman of the poet: — "Among our dear 

 Cowper's papers, I found the following memorandum : — ' Yardley Oak, in 

 girt, feet 22, inches G^. The oak at Yardley Lodge, feet 28, inches 3.' As 

 to the Yardley Oak, it stands in Yardley Chase, vvhere the Marquess of North- 

 ampton has a fine seat [Castle Ashby]. It was' a favourite walk of our dear 

 Cowper ; and he once carried me to see that oak. I believe it is five miles, at 

 least, from Weston Lodge. It is indeed a noble tree, perfectly sound, and 

 stands in an open part of the chase, with only one or two others near it, so as 

 to be seen to advantage. With respect to the oak at Yardley Lodge, that is 

 quite in decay ; a pollard, and almost hollow. I took an excrescence from 

 it in the year 1791 ; and, if I mistake not, Cowper told me it is said to 

 have been an oak in the 'time of the Conqueror. This latter oak is in the 

 road to the former, but not above half so far from Weston Lodge, being 



