556 Strutt’s Sylva Britannica. 
oak in the Plestor * at Selborne, with its “ short squat body, 
and huge horizontal arms, extending almost to the extremity 
of the area, — surrounded with stone steps, and seats above 
them, the delight of old and young, and a place of much 
resort In summer evenings ; where the former sat in grave 
debate, while the latter frolicked and danced before them :””— 
who can reflect upon this pleasing picture of rural life with- 
out sympathising with the simple villagers and their pastor 
upon their irreparable loss, and regretting the catastrophe 
which overthrew the tree and deprived them of its genial 
shelter? Or who, again, can peruse the almost affecting 
narrative, by the same author, of the fall of the Raven Oak, 
and not wish that it had been spared from the axe to this day ? 
** In the centre of Losel’s Grove,” says White, in his second 
letter to Pennant, ‘there stood an oak, which, though shapely 
and tall on the whole, bulged out into a large excrescence 
about the middle of the stem. On this a pair of ravens had 
fixed their residence for such a series of years, that the oak 
was distinguished by the title of ‘the raven tree.” Many 
were the attempts of the neighbouring youths to get at this 
eyry; the difficulty whetted their inclinations, and” each was 
ambitious of surmounting the arduous task. But when they 
arrived at the swelling, it jutted out so in their way, and was 
so far beyond their grasp, that the most daring lads were 
awed, and acknowledged the undertaking to be too hazardous. 
So the ravens built on, nest upon nest, in perfect security, till 
the fatal day arrived in which the w God was to be levelled : it 
was in the month of February, when those birds usually sit. 
The saw was applied to the but, the wedges were inserted 
* © We have the following explanation of the Plestor in the Antiquities of 
Selborne,” says Sir W. Jardine, in his notes appended to the late pocket 
edition of White’s natural history of that place: — “ It appears to have 
been left as a sort of redeeming offering by Sir Adam Gurdon, in olden 
times an inhabitant of Selborne, well known in English history during the 
reion of Henry II., particularly as a leader of the Mountfort faction. Mr. 
White says: As Sir Adam began to advance in years, he found his mind 
influenced by the prevailing opinion of the reasonableness and efficacy of 
prayers for the dead; and therefore, in conjunction with his wife Constan- 
tia, in the year 1271, granted to the prior and convent of Selborne all his 
right and claim to a certain place, placea, called La Pleystow, in the village 
aforesaid, ‘in dberam, puram, et perpetuam elemosinam. This Pleystow, 
locus ludorum, or play-place, is in a level area near the church, of about 44 
yards by 36, and is known now by the name of the Plestor. It continues 
still, as it was in old times, to be the scene of recreation for the youths and 
children of the neighbour hood ; 3 and impresses an idea on the mind that this 
village, even in Saxon times, could not be the most abject of places, when 
the inhabitants thought proper to assign sO spacious a spot for the sports 
and amusements of its young people.” 
