THE OAK. 269 
4 
literally a byre. I paced within the tree in one straight line 
upwards of five yards. The innkeeper at Cowthorpe told us 
that the day previous to our visit being a holiday at a neigh- 
bouring school, the tree was visited by the scholars, their 
teachers and friends, and that eighty-four persons stood within 
the tree, and that it could: have contained a considerable 
number more. 
The head of the tree presented a display of dead branches ; 
a great many were also strewn on the ground around, the 
effects of a recent hurricane. The head also exhibited some 
widely-spread living boughs, one of which, the nearest to the 
ground, extended forty-eight feet from the trunk in a horizon- 
tal line about eight feet from the ground. I could discover no 
young shoots, but the live branches were well furnished with 
foliage of a very healthy appearance. Nothing is known of 
the age of this tree ; but looking at its enormous size in com- 
parison to trees the growth of centuries, whose ages are ascer- 
tained, one is led to believe that thousands of years must have 
elapsed since this monarch of the forest was a small acorn 
in the ground, and nursed among the weeds of a season. 
We left the scene with mingled feelings of wonder and regret ; 
regret that so remarkable an object should be so little 
cared for. 
Perhaps the largest and most valuable tree ever produced 
in Britain was that called the “Gelonos Oak,” which grew 
a few miles from Newport, in Monmouthshire, and was 
felled in 1810. It is stated in the Gentleman's Magazine 
for 1817 to have been sold for one hundred guineas, 
under the apprehension of its being unsound, and re- 
sold while still standing for £405. The expense of con- 
verting it was £82, making in all £487 ; and subsequently 
it was sold for £675. It is said to have contained 2426 
cubical feet of timber, and its bark was estimated at the 
weight of six tons. 
Some districts of Scotland contain a considerable extent of 
valuable oak forests ; but the dimensions of the best specimens 
fall far short of those of English growth. In Roxburghshire, 
