SESSILE-FRUITED OAK. 253 



occupy more space than the limits of this work will allow ; 

 this circumstance, however, we regret the less, as it may 

 induce the reader to turn to the interesting pages of the 

 " Amoenitates querna^ of the late Professor Burnet, in 

 which work the historical facts, legends, &c, connected with 

 the history of individual Oaks of ancient date, are amply 

 discussed, to the magnificent " Sylva Britannica" of Strutt, 

 or to the " Arboretum Britannicum," in which work, the 

 counties being ranged alphabetically, an account is given 

 of all the most celebrated Oaks that have existed or are 

 now living in each of them. We shall, therefore, briefly 

 mention a few of the largest Oaks on record, and after- 

 wards point out others which, though in a state of decay, 

 are still living, concluding our notice with such Oaks as 

 are in a thriving or growing state, and which promise, 

 in progress of time, to equal the dimensions of their most 

 magnificent predecessors. 



The solid trunk of a gigantic Oak is recorded by the 

 Rev. Abraham de la Pryme, in the " Philosophical Trans- 

 actions" for 1701 ; it was found beneath the level of Hat- 

 field chase, in Yorkshire, by Mr. Edward Canby, and 

 measured one hundred and twenty feet in length, was 

 thirty-six feet in circumference at the butt end, thirty 

 feet at the middle, and eighteen feet at the small end, 

 where the trunk was broken off, so that by moderate 

 computation, he adds, " this tree may have been two hun- 

 dred and forty feet in height. 1 '' Dr. Plott, in his history 

 of Staffordshire, mentions an Oak at Rycote, under the 

 shadow of whose boughs four thousand three hundred and 

 seventy-four men could stand, and another at Norbury, 

 forty-five feet in circumference. The Boddington Oak, 

 in Gloucestershire, the remains of which were burnt down 

 in 1790, was fifty-four feet in circumference at the base, 



