SYLVAN GIANTS. 297 



though inferior to either of the others.' (See 

 Evelyn's ' Sylva,' p. 227.) 'None of them, I 

 should suppose from this account, was a tree of 

 picturesque beauty. A straight stem, of forty or 

 fifty feet, let its head be what it will, can hardly 

 produce a picturesque form. When we admired 

 the Stone Pine, we supposed its stem to take a 

 sweeping line, and to be broken, also, with stumps 

 or decayed branches.' * 



Of another he says, ' Close by the gate 

 of the water- walk, at Magdalen College in Ox- 

 ford, grew an Oak, which perhaps stood there 

 a sapling, when Alfred the Great founded the 

 university. This period only includes a space 

 of 900 years, which is no great age for an 

 Oak. It is a difficult matter, indeed, to ascer- 

 tain the age of a tree. The age of a castle 

 or abbey is the object of history. Even a 

 common house is recorded by the family that 

 built it. All these objects arrive at maturity in 

 their youth, if I may so speak. But the tree, 

 gradually completing its growth, is not worth re- 

 cording in the early part of its existence. It is 

 * ' Forest Scenery,' pages 182-4. 



