SYLVAN GIANTS. 293 



with their arms and names, to which the 

 dates were added, and often some device. Mr. 

 Bvehn, who procured copies of several of these 

 monumental inscriptions, tells us there were near 

 two hundred of them. The columns On which 

 they were fixed served also to bear up the vast 

 limbs of the tree, which began, through age, to 

 become unwieldy. Thus this mighty plant stood 

 many years in great state, the ornament of the 

 town, the admiration of the country, and sup- 

 ported, as it were, by the princes of the empire. 

 At length it felt the effects of war. Niestadt was 

 surrounded by an enemy, and the limbs of this 

 venerable tree were mangled in wantonness by 

 the besieging troops. Whether it still exists, I 

 know not ; but long after these injuries it stood 

 a noble ruiuj discovering, by the foundations of 

 the several monuments which formerly propped 

 its spreading boughs, how far its limits had once 

 extended.' * Of the Lime of Cleves he says, — ■ 

 ' This, also, was a tree of great magnificence. 

 It grew in an open plain, just at the entrance of 

 the city, and was thought an object worthy to 

 * 'Forest Scenery,' pages 177-8. 



