( '43 ) 



mention. In point of grandeur few trees 

 equalled it. It overfpread a fpace of ninety feet 

 from the extremities of it's oppofite boughs. 

 Thefe dimenfions will produce an area capable, 

 on mathematical calculation, of covering a 

 fquadron of two hundred and thirty-five horfe. 



The dignity of it's ftation was equal to 



the dignity of the tree itfelf. It flood on a 

 point, where Yorkihire, Nottinghammire, and 

 Derbyfhire unite, and fpread it's made over a 

 portion of each. From the honourable ftation 

 of thus fixing the boundaries of three large 

 counties, it was equally refpedled through the 

 domains of them all ; and was known far and 

 wide, by the honourable diftinftion of the 

 Jhire-oak, by which appellation it was marked 

 among cities, towns, and rivers, in all the 

 larger maps of England*. 



In the garden at Tortworth, in Glocefter- 

 fhire, an old family-feat, belonging to lord 

 Ducie, grows a Spanifh chefnut of great age, 

 and dimenfions. Traditional accounts fuppofe 

 it to have been a boundary-tree in the time of 



* See Evelia's Sylva, p. 232. 



king 



