CELEBEATED TEEES. 199 



round. Eairies, elves, and that generation of 

 people, universally chose the most ancient and 

 venerable trees they could find to gambol under ; 

 and the poet who should describe them dancing 

 under a sapling, vrould show little acquaintance 

 with his subject. That this tree could not be called 

 a venerable tree two hundred years ago, is evident, 

 because it hardly can assume that character even 

 now ; and yet an Oak, in a soil it likes, will con- 

 tinue so many years in a vigorous state, that we 

 must not lay more stress on this argument than 

 it will fairly bear. It may be added, however, in 

 its favour, that a pit or ditch is still shown near 

 the tree, as Shakespeare describes it, which may 

 have been preserved Avith the same venera,tion as 

 the tree itself. 



Opinions have difi'ered as to which of two old Oaks in 

 Windsor Park was the veritable ' Heme's ;' but the weight 

 of authority appears to have inclined in favour of a tree 

 which was cut down in 1796, several years after Gilpin 

 wrote his ' Forest Scenery.'' — Ed. 



There is an Oak in the grounds of Sir Gerard 

 Yan Neck, at Heveningham, in Suffolk, which 

 carries us likewise into the times of Elizabeth. 



