FOHEST TREES. 



189 



dark green, others of a light complexion ; some enriching 

 their species with perpetual verdure, others deserting at 

 the first annual frost, the parent stock which supported 

 and nourished them through the summer, to the buffet- 

 ings of every winter. 



Accounts of several oaks hand them down to us 

 as renowned in history. Some on account of their 

 great size, others for their recording, or in some way 

 preserving interesting events. One in Dennington 

 Park, (England), called the king's oak, rose to the height 

 of fifty feet, without a limb or knot, and squared 

 five feet of solid timber. Another, called the queen's 

 oak, was nearly the same size. An oak in Holt 

 Forest was thirtyfour feet in circumference in 1759, and 

 twenty years after, the circumference had not increased 

 half an inch. Another extended its boughs one hundred 

 and forty feet, and furnished twentyeight tons of timber. 

 The Boddington oak, in the vale ofGloucester, was fifty- 

 four feet in circumference at the base, with a hollow ca- 

 vity of sixteen feet. Damory's oak, in Dorsetshire, the 

 largest known, was sixtyeight feet in circumference, with 

 a cavity of sixteen feet by twenty, and was used in the 

 time of Cromwell for the entertainment of travellers. In 

 1703, it was shattered by a storm, and in 1755 the last 

 vestiges of it were sold for fire-wood. An immense oak 

 was dug out of the Hatfield bog, one hundred and twenty 

 feet in length, twelve feet in diameter at the base, and 

 six feet at the smaller end where it was broken off. 



Less than a hundred years since, the oak against which 

 the arrow of Sir William Tyrrel glanced before it killed 

 William Rufus, was standing, though in a decayed state. 

 Charles the Second concealed himself in an oak at Bas- 

 cobell, after his defeat at Worcester. An oak still more 

 renowned, is said to be standing in Stirlingshire, under 

 which the Scottish patriot, Wallace, convened his follow- 

 ers, and impressed upon them the necessity of throwing 

 off the yoke Edward was attempting to fasten upon them, 

 and their power of freeing themselves from his thraldom. 

 Alfred's oak, at Oxford, which was a sapling when that 

 great monarch founded the university, is said to be still 

 standing. An oak is still standing in Hartford, Connec- 

 VOL. i. NO. vni. 17* 



