216 COLLEGE GARDENS 



between Magd. Coll. and the Greyhound were planted by the 

 fellowes of that College purposely for a shady walke. They 

 were planted anno 1657, but caused to be plucked up by 

 [Abraham] Forman and [Edward] Drope, because planted in 

 fanatick times. Set by Mr. Ch. Hawles burser." 



Hearne completed the story by an entry in his Diary that 

 " He planted the elms in the gravel walk by Magdalen 

 College," he being a crazy Fellow of the College called 

 Hooper. Dr. Bloxam has also noted an entry in the Liber 

 computi for 1660 : "Sol. pro ulmis serendis ad portas Collegii, 

 o iSs. 6d." 



Mr. Wilson, who has carefully considered the problem, 

 suggests that the trees planted by the " fanaticks " may have 

 been removed in 1660 by Forman and Drope, and have been 

 replaced by new trees, which either did not thrive or did not 

 extend far enough along the walk, thus making a later planting 

 (1680) necessary. 



Hooper, having ceased to reside in College, for his infirmity, 

 had gone to live in the Gravel Walk, and so took more 

 interest in the approach to the College than those who 

 lived within its walls. Hearne records that he "applied him- 

 self to gardening with wonderful success, digging himself with 

 a man that he constantly hired. He would carry his spade 

 upon his shoulders, and work hard every working day. He 

 would likewise prune, engraft, and do other things of that 

 kind himself. He raised several nurseries and planted many 

 orchards ; but he did all for nothing, for he would never take 

 anything of anybody soever. It was his constant practice to 

 give away trees, etc. ; but then he took care it should only be 

 to the poor and such as were in want, not to others. He 

 was buried in Magdalen College Chapel." 



The " unmutilated luxuriance " of the Elms along the Gravel 

 Walks in the thirties helped to make the entry to Oxford 

 one of the most beautiful among cities, but in 1844 one 

 Elm had to be cut down, being decayed, in 1853 another 



