230 A VERT OLD ROSE-TREE. 



ments to have been built in the year 818, and to 

 have survived the burning of the other parts of 

 the cathedral on the 21st of January, 1013, and 

 the 23rd of March, 1046. 



'It is remarkable that the chronicles of the 

 town and Chapter make no mention of any harm 

 having befallen this famous tree, which for cen- 

 turies has been considered one of the lions of the 

 district. 



( The vault in which it grows is open to the 

 rain, and this is put down as a proof that the 

 tree could not have been planted after the cathe- 

 dral was built. 



( The trunk, eleven inches in diameter, is con- 

 ducted through an opening in the wall, which is 

 five feet thick, and then reaches outside some 

 inches above the surface of the ground, from 

 whence two old branches and three younger arms 

 spread out with their twigs and leaves, and cover 

 a space twenty feet in height and twenty-four 

 feet in breadth, being arranged on a sort of iron 

 railing on the eastern side of the vault. 



' This tree has been an object of especial interest 

 to the Chapter from the building of the cathedral ; 

 and botanists attribute its present size to the fact 

 of its being sheltered from frosts and storms by 

 the different buildings and cloisters of the cathe- 

 dral, and from the touch of rude hands by trellis- 

 work. 



'Bishop Hepilo (1054-1079) had it carefully 



