CHAP. cv. coryla*ceje. ^ue'rcus. 1759 



30 ft. from the tree, now lies completely buried in the ground. The tree 

 stands singly in a very conspicuous situation, on rising ground, and attracts 

 the notice of travellers. At Melbury Park, there is an old oak, called Billy 

 Wilkins, which is 50 ft, high, spreads GO ft., and has a trunk 8 ft. high before 

 it breaks into branches, which is 30 ft. in circumference at the smallest part, 

 and 37 ft. at the collar. It is a remarkably gnarled knotty tree, and is called 

 by Mitchell, in his Dendrohgia, " as curly, surly, knotty an old monster as can 

 be conceived ;" though for marble-grained furniture, he adds, it would sell at 

 a guinea per foot. 



Essex. The Fairlop Oak stood in an open space of Hainault Forest. " The 

 circumference of its trunk, near the ground, was 48 ft. ; at 3 ft. high, it measured 

 3G ft. round ; and the short bole divided into 1 1 vast branches, not in 

 the horizontal manner usual in the oak, but rather with the rise that is more 

 generally characteristic of the beech. These boughs, several of which were 

 from 10ft. to 12ft. in girt, overspread an area 300ft. in circuit; and for 

 many years a fair was held beneath their shade, no booth of which was al- 

 lowed to extend beyond it. This celebrated festival owed its origin to the 

 eccentricity of Daniel Day, commonly called ' Good Day,' who, about 1720, 

 was wont to invite his friends to dine with him, the first Friday in July, on beans 

 and bacon, under this venerable tree. From this circumstance becoming known, 

 the public were attracted to the spot; and about 1725 the fair above mentioned 

 was established, and was held for many years on the 2d of July in each year. 

 Mr. Day never failed to provide annually several sacks of beans, which he 

 distributed, with a proportionate quantity of bacon, from the hollowed trunk 

 of the oak, to the crowds assembled. The project of its patron tended 

 greatly, however, to injure his favourite tree ; and the orgies annually cele- 

 brated to the honour of the Fairlop Oak, yearly curtailed it of its fair pro- 

 portions. Some years ago, Mr. Forsyth's composition was applied to the 

 decayed branches of this tree, to preserve it from future injury ; probably by 

 the Hainault Archery Society, who held their meetings near it." (Lysons.) 

 At this period, a board was affixed to one of the limbs of this tree, with this 

 inscription : — " All good foresters are requested not to hurt this old tree, a 

 plaster having been lately applied to his wounds." (See Gent. Mag. for 

 1793, p. 792.) Mr. Day had his coffin made of one of the limbs of this tree, 

 which was torn off in a storm; and, dying in 1767, at the age of 84, 

 he was buried in it in Barking churchyard. The persons assembled at the 

 fair frequently mutilated the tree ; and it was severely injured by some 

 gipsies, who made its trunk their place of shelter. But the most fatal injury 

 it received was in 1805, from a party of about sixty cricketers, who had spent 

 the day under its shade, and who carelessly left a fire burning too near its 

 trunk. The tree was discovered to be on fire about eight in the evening, two 

 hours after the cricketers had left the spot; and, though a number of persons, 

 with buckets and pails of water, endeavoured to extinguish the flames, the 

 tree continued burning till morning. (Gent. Mag., June, 1805, p. 574.) 

 " The high winds of February, 1820," Professor Burnet informs us, " stretched 

 this forest patriarch on the ground, after having endured the storms of per- 

 haps 1000 winters. Its remains were purchased by a builder; and from a 

 portion thereof the pulpit and reading-desk in the new church, St. Pancras, 

 were constructed : they are beautiful specimens of British oak, and will long 

 preserve the recollection of this memorable tree." (Ameen. Qacr.,£o\. 15.) 



In Hatfield Broad-Oak, orTakely, Forest, near _ &J&*} 

 the village of Hatfield, stand the remains of an 

 old oak, from which the village and forest derive 

 their name of Hatfield Broad-Oak. This tree 

 (fig. 1593.), in its present state, measures 42 ft. in 

 circumference at the base; but, in 1813, before a 

 large portion of the bark fell in, it was upwards of 

 00 ft. It seems to have been one of those stag- 

 headed trees, which are remarkable for the com- 1593 



5 v 



