THE OAK. 35 



following note, in the handwriting of the late rector, Dr. 

 Woodhouse : " Extracts from the ritilosophical Transac- 

 tions, vol. 5, part 2nd, chap. 3, written by the Rev. George 

 Plaxton, Hector of Donington and (Kinnard&ey) from 1690 

 to 1703." Then follows the type. " The Royal Oak was 

 a fair spreading tree ; the boughs of it all lined and 

 covered with ivy. Here in the thick of these boughs, tho 

 King sat in the day-time, with Colonel Carlos, and in the 

 night lodged in Boscobel House ; so that they are strangely 

 mistaken who judged it an old hollow Oak, whereas it 

 was a gay and flourishing tree surrounded with a great 

 many more, and, as I remember in Mr. Evelyn's History 

 of Medals, you have one of King James I. or Charles I., 

 where thero is a fine spread Oak with this epigraph, 

 ' Sens nepotibus umbra,' which I leave to your thoughts. 

 . . . The poor remains of the Royal Oak are now fenced 

 in by a handsome brick wall, at the charge of Basil Fitz- 

 herbert, Esq., with this inscription over the gate, upon a 

 blue stone in letters of gold : 



Felicissimam arborem quam in asylum 



potent i*simi regis Carol! Secundi Deus Opt. Max. 



per quern reges regnant hie crescere 



voluit tarn in perpetuam rei tanl ae 



memoiiam quam in specimen firmac 



in reges fidei muro cinctam 



posteris commendant Bazilius 



et Jana Fitzherbert. 



Quercus arnica Jovi. 1 



" 'Twas put up about twenty or thirty years ago ; but 

 the place deserved a better memorial. I have writ it in 

 such lines as they have cut it, and as the letters now 

 stand ; a few years will ruine both the wall and the in- 

 scription. 



1 Translation. This most highly-favourc d tree, planted by the 

 God through whom kings reign, to afford shelter to his Majesty 

 King Charles the Second, was enclosed with a wall by Bazil and 

 Jane Fitzherbert, as well to preserve to posterity a memorial of the 

 auspicious event as to be a token of their own steadfast loyalty. 



