556 Strutfs S^lva Britdnnica, 



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 LosePs 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 wood 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 

 reign of Henry III., particularly as a leader of the Mountfort faction. Mr. 

 Wl^ite 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, ptacea, called La Plej/stowy in the village 

 aforesaid, * in liberaniy j^uraniy et pei'petuam elemosinam* This Pleystow, 

 locus ludoruniy 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 neighbourhood ; 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." 



