CHAP, in S Y L V A 43 



considerable for their use ; I pass to the ash, elm, 

 oak, &c. 



There were of the first of these divers which 

 measured in length one hundred and thirty two foot, 

 sold lately in Essex : And in the mannor of Horton 

 (to go no farther than the Parish of Ebsham in Sur- 

 rey, belonging to my brother Richard Evelyn, Esq;) 

 there were elms standing in good numbers, which 

 would bear almost three foot square for more than 

 forty foot in height, which is (in my judgment) a 

 very extraordinary matter. They grow in a moist 

 gravel, and in the hedge-rows. 



Not to insist upon beech, which are frequently 

 very large ; there are oaks of forty foot high, and 

 five foot diameter yet flourishing in divers old parks 

 of our nobility and gentry : And firs of 150 foot in 

 height : which is exceeded by one growing in a wood 

 about Bern by almost 100 foot, as Chabrous tells us. 



A large and goodly oak there is at Reedham in 

 Sir Richard Berney's park of Norfolk, which I am 

 informed was valu'd at forty pounds the timber, and 

 twelve pounds the lopping wood. 



12. Nor are we to over-pass those memorable trees 

 which so lately flourished in Dennington Park near 

 Newbury ; amongst which three were most remark- 

 able from the ingenious planter, and dedication (if 

 tradition hold) of the famous English bard, Jeofry 

 Chaucer ; of which one was call'd the King's, another 

 the Queen's, and a third Chaucer's oak. The first 

 of these was fifty foot in height before any bough 

 or knot appear'd, and cut five foot square at the 

 butt-end, all clear timber. The Queen's was fell'd 

 since the wars, and held forty foot excellent timber, 

 straight as an arrow in growth and grain, and cutting 



