20 THE WOODLANDS. 



from each other, we could only have about fifty trees 

 from an acre; and supposing that the same trees 

 were from one hundred to one hundred and twenty 

 years old, there would probably be about seventy feet 

 of timber in each at an average : consequently, we 

 see from this calculation, which is pretty near the 

 truth, that no less than the matured crop of forty-four 

 acres of woodland, or two thousand two hundred full- 

 grown trees, are required for one such ship." This 

 relates, however, to the past, as iron and steel have 

 superseded wood in naval construction. 



A volume of gleanings might speedily be compiled 

 of stories, legends, and wonderful trees of this species, 

 for there is no other in which the Englishman has so 

 great a pride. The Britons regarded it as a symbol 

 of their god of thunder. The Yule-log, burnt at 

 Christmas in honour of their deities, was always of 

 oak. The Druids are said to have worshipped under 

 an oak, and to have offered sacrifices in wicker 

 baskets of oaken twigs. Criminals, we are told, 

 were tried under an oak tree. The Saxons 

 held their national meetings under an oak. The 

 celebrated conference of the invading Saxons and the 

 Britons was held under the oaks of Dartmoor. King 

 Arthur's round table was made of its timber ; so was 

 the cradle of Edward III., in order to conciliate 

 the Welsh. And it was considered unlucky to cut 

 down a celebrated tree, for Evelyn gravely relates 

 of two men who cut down the vicar's oak, that the 

 * one lost his eye, and the other broke his leg soon 

 afterwards. 



Remarkable oak trees are more numerous than 



