SESSILE-FEUITED OAK. 259 



and cathedrals, as we see it exhibited in the beautiful 

 tabernacled stalls of that of Gloucester, in the shrine of 

 Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey, and in 

 various other ancient edifices. It roofed our old baronial 

 castles and halls, and also panelled their rooms of en- 

 tertainment; and the massive tables and other household 

 furniture with which they were provided, were generally 

 fabricated of the same durable material. It was also 

 used from the earliest period in all exterior works where 

 strength and durability were required, such as piles to 

 strengthen and secure foundations of buildings, bridges, 

 &c. ; and its durability and almost imperishable nature 

 for water- works is proved by the sound condition, in which 

 it has been found after the lapse of ages, in one instance, 

 viz., that of the stakes driven into the bed of the Thames 

 to prevent the approach and landing of Julius Csesar, of 

 nearly two thousand years. 



The decrease of the Oak forests in Britain was, for long- 

 after the Conquest, very gradual, as in Henry the Second's 

 time the greater part of England appears to have been 

 covered with wood, consisting principally of Oak, and 

 about that period London was surrounded by a large 

 forest, " in the coverts whereof (so says Fitzstephen) 

 lurked bucks and does, wild boars, and bulls ;" and even 

 so late as the reign of Henry the Seventh, Polydore Virgil 

 informs us that the forests covered nearly one third of 

 all England. It appears, however, soon after this period, 

 in consequence, we may presume, of the increasing popula- 

 tion, the advance of civilisation, and the greater demand 

 for agricultural produce, and perhaps, also, by a partial 

 relaxation of the severe forest laws in regard to the pre- 

 servation of game, the axe, and other means of destruction 

 must have been freely applied, as it was deemed necessary, 



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