50 AN ANCIENT OAK. 



and shelter to an adjoining farm-house. These 

 circumstances, and not being valuable as a timber 

 tree, may have contributed to its preservation : its 

 hamadryad is left alone in the land to mourn her 

 lost companions. This tree is not mentioned as 

 being at all comparable with the gigantic produc- 

 tions of the kind that we have accounts of, and 

 perhaps by many would be passed by unnoticed ; 

 yet it is deserving of some regard, from the vege- 

 table powers that have existed, and still continue in 

 its trunk. The. bole, at some very distant period, by 

 accident or design, appears to have lost its leading 

 shoot, and in consequence has thrown out several 

 collateral branches ; three remain, which have now 

 grown into trees themselves, existing in full vigour 

 and constituting a whole of much beauty. It is a 

 characteristic specimen of an oak, with all the corru- 

 gations, twistings, furrows, and irregularities, which 

 this tree with a free growth generally exhibits ; ex- 

 panding its three vigorous arms to the Sun of 

 Heaven with a pendent,, easy dignity, that seems 

 like an enjoyment of unrestrained liberty. We 

 have no good criterion to regulate our judgment 

 with regard to the age of trees of considerable anti- 

 quity. In young ones the rings of the wood will 

 often afford a reasonable ground for opinion ; but 

 in old trees these marks are absorbed, obscured, or 

 uncertainly formed, so as to be no sufficient guide. 

 In particular cases, such as inclosure of waste or 

 other lands, formation of parks and plantations, the 

 times of planting are sufficiently recorded ; but ge- 



