Struts s Sylva Briiannica, 553 



no uncommon circumstance of bulls taking shelter within 

 them ; which these animals effect, not by going in and turning 

 round, but by retreating backwards into the cavity till the 

 head only projects at the aperture. The one I am about to 

 particularise stands in the middle of a pasture, bears the most 

 venerable marks of antiquity, gives the name compounded of 

 itself and its situation to the farm on which it grows, viz. Oakly 

 Farm, and was the favourite retreat of a bull. Twenty people, 

 old and young, have crowded into it at a time. A calf being 

 shut up there for convenience, its dam, a two-year old heifer, 

 constantly went in to suckle it, and left suflicient room for 

 milking her. It is supposed to be near a thousand years 

 old " [we could readily believe it older] ; " the body is nothing 

 but a shell, covered with burly protuberances ; the upper part 

 of the shaft is hollow like a chimney ; it has been mutilated in 

 all its limbs, but from their stumps arise a number of small 

 branches, forming a burly head, so remarkable for fertility, 

 that in years of plenty, it has produced two sacks of acorns 

 in a season." Thus far Mr. South. " The dimensions," says 

 Mr. Strutt, " of this venerable remnant of antiquity are, at one 

 yard from the ground, 1 1 yds. 1 ft. ; one foot above the ground, 

 13 yds. 1 ft. ; six feet from the ground, 12 yds. 1 ft. ; broadest 

 side, 7 yds. 5 in. ; close to the ground, 1 8 yds. 1 ft. 7 in. ; 

 height of the trunk, about 4? yds. 1 ft." Having ourselves 

 visited this remarkable tree, and reclined in an idle hour 

 under its shade, we may add that it has long since been care- 

 fully fenced round with substantial posts and rails, and has 

 had the two extremities of its projecting limbs supported 

 from beneath by strong pieces of timber. These artificial 

 appendages, creditable as they are to the noble owner, as 

 proofs of his laudable regard for so interesting a piece of 

 sylvan antiquity, have been {judiciously^ we think) omitted by 

 Mr. Strutt in his drawing ; since, however necessary they may 

 be to preserve the tree from external injury, they form no true 

 part of it, and add nothing to its picturesque effect, but, on 

 the contrary, manifestly detract from the beauty of the object. 

 We pass on to the Gospel Oak {^fig, 136.), which is a bound- 

 ary tree, situate at Stoneleigh in Warwickshire, defining the 

 extremity of that parish from the adjoining parish of Bagin- 

 ton. Many an old oak, as well as other tree, bearing the 

 like title and character, may still be met with throughout the 

 country, , 



" Religione patrum multos servata per annos." * Virgil. 



* " By the religion of our ancestors, 



Preserved for ages." Trapp*s Translation. 



Vol. III. —No. 16. o o 



