634 Notes. 



As Mr. Jacob consulted me as to the preservation of what remained 

 of the tree on the Vicarage lawn, I ventured to suggest that, as there 

 was abundance of room in St. Sampson's Church, it might well be placed 

 there under cover, and this I believe has since been done. At present 

 there seems to be no evidence at all as to the earliest mention of the 

 name " Gospel Oak," and it is very desirable that this point should be 

 cleared up. It can hardly be contended that the existing tree standing 

 until 1865 was the actual one which, even in 603 must have been a 

 notable tree if, as the theory demands, it was then chosen as a meeting 

 place. If it is a successor to the original tree, and the name and tradition 

 have really come down from those early times, it must certainly be 

 mentioned in records somewhere or other If, on the other hand, 

 the name " Gospel Oak " has arisen, as has been suggested, at a far 

 later date, at the time of the Reformation, or even later still, from the 

 fact that it was a meeting place of Lollards or later Protestant Dissenters, 

 who could not safely meet elsewhere, that might very well account for 

 the tradition now attached to it that it was " the meeting place of the 

 first Christians in England." The existence of the name in Pre- 

 Eeformation days has not yet been proved. Ed. H. Goddard. 



Buckler's Drawings of Wiltshire Antiquities. In the 



Catalogue of Books, &c, "including selections from the Library of the 

 late Rev. J. H. Ellis and others," to be sold by Messrs. Sotheby, 

 Wilkinson, & Hodge, on July 16th, 1913, occur two or three lots of 

 great interest to Wiltshire, which had been bought by Mr. Ellis, who 

 was formerly Rector of Stourton, at the Stourhead sale. 

 Lot 240 is thus described : — 

 Buckler (John) Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Wiltshire, 

 Antiquities op Salisbury and Ancient Buildings in Wilts, 

 10 vol., containing a magnificent Collection of 690 Drawings in 

 Water-Colours of Churches, Fonts, Ancient Mansions, Monu- 

 ments etc., neatly mounted on cartridge paper, russia extra, full 

 gilt backs, inside borders gilt, leather joints, each vol. lettered on 

 sides also, ivith arms of Sir R. C. Hoare in gold, g. e, by C. Lewis, 

 atlas folio. 1808—10 



*$* This collection of water-colour drawings was made, regardless of 

 expense, for Sir Richard Colt Hoare, by the celebrated artist, 

 John Buckler, who in his autograph dedication thanks Sir Richard 

 for his munificent patronage. 

 This valuable series of drawings was bought from the Stourhead 

 Library by Mr. Ellis for .£540- It was bought at the recent sale by 

 Mr. Francis Edwards, bookseller, 83, High Street, Marylebone, 

 London, W., for £172, and he catalogues lit at the price of £400, 

 having refused an offer of £180 from a member of our Society. 

 Lots 242 and 243 also came from the same source : — 

 242 Nicholson (F.) Rural Scenery in Stourhead, co. Wilts : 

 a Collection of Thirty-one Original Drawings in Water- Colours 

 (size about 22in. by 16m.) by this celebrated artist, neatly mounted 

 on cards in a volume, russia gilt, g. e. 





