18 THE FORESTS OF ENGLAND. 



the tomb of a child of the forest, and on the tomb is the 

 following epitaph : 



1 ' Here, underneath this laith steun, 

 Laz Robert Earl of fluntington ; 

 Nea archers were az hie sa geud, 

 An piple kauld him Robin Head. 

 Sick utlawz az hi and is men 

 Wil England niver si agen. 



Obiit 24 kal. Dekembris, 1247." 



On the brow of a gentle hill in the neighbourhood of 

 this old hunting- seat of King John, stands a crumbling 

 fragment of a tree, called the " Parliament Oak." Tradi- 

 tion says that Edward I. and a princely retinue were 

 merrily chasing the panting deer through the entangled 

 paths of the forest, when a messenger arrived in breath- 

 less haste, bearing intelligence that his majesty's new 

 subjects in Wales were in open revolt. The monarch 

 instantly called his knights around him, and under the 

 branches of this once noble tree held an urgent council. 

 The knights, with brief resolve, called out for prompt 

 suppression and exterminating war. 



The " Parliament Oak " is supposed to be above a thou- 

 sand years old ; it is now 20 feet high, varying from 27 

 to 32^ feet in circumference. From the ancient trunk 

 start forth youthful branches, which, in the autumn of 

 1842, brought forth above three hundred acorns. The 

 Duke of Portland, the owner of Clipstone Park, has caused 

 this tree to be braced and supported by poles. A young 

 oak, raised from an acorn of the present tree, was planted 

 in the very heart of it, but some rude hand has broken 

 down the top. 



" Sherwood Forest was once very extensive. It covered 

 the whole county of Nottingham, and extended into both 

 Yorkshire and Derbyshire. It was well stocked with 

 beasts of the chase, and was one of the favourite hunting 

 resorts of the Norman kings. The Conqueror seems to 

 have spared it in his northern devastations. Camden's 

 description of it is very short, and gives little information. 



