( '5 ) 



might well have exifted in the time of 

 Elizabeth, it feems too ftrong, and vigorous 

 to have been a proper tree, in that age, for 

 Hern, the hunter, to have danced round. 

 Fairies, elves and that generation of people, 

 univerfally chofe the moft ancient, and ve- 

 nerable trees they could find, to gambol 

 under : and the poet, who mould defcribe 

 them dancing under a faplin, would mew 

 little acquaintance with his fubjecl:. That 

 this tree could not be called a venerable tree 

 two hundred years ago, is evident 5 becaufe 

 it hardly can aflume that character even now. 

 And yet an oak, in a foil it likes, will 

 continue fo many years in a vigorous ilate, 

 that we mufl not lay more ftrefs on this 

 argument, than it will fairly bear. It may 

 be added, however in it's favour, that a 

 pit or ditch, is frill mewn near the tree, 

 as Shakefpear defcribes it - y which may have 

 been preferved with the fame veneration, as 

 the tree itfelf. 



There is an oak, in the grounds of Sir 

 Gerard Vanneck, at Heveningham, in Suf- 

 folk, which carries us likewife into the 



times 



