14G 



The Forest Trees of Wiltshire. 



and almost leafless shell, still majestic even in the last state of 

 decay. What more impressive spectacle can be seen ? Where * 

 can mortal man find a sight more calculated to fill his soul with 

 thoughts of Heaven, and to inspire him with admiration, love, and 

 reverence for his great Creator ? What human being is there 

 whose mind would not be turned from earth to Heaven by scenes, 

 the mere contemplation of which would not only fill him with 

 gratitude for such " Altars," but remind him of that promised 

 land, the glories of which will so immeasurably surpass anything 

 here below, and which will be the reward of those who shall serve 

 their Maker in sincerity and in truth. With such sights around, 

 who would not join in the apostrophe of the dying Hebrew, thus 

 sweetly rendered by one of England's most gifted authors, — 



" In this great Temple built by Thee, 

 "Whose Altars are divine, 

 Beneath yon Lamp, that, ceaselessly, 

 Lights up Thine own true Shrine, 

 Oh ! take my latest sacrifice, — 

 Look down and make this sod 

 Holy as that where, long ago, 

 The Hebrew met his God ! " 



At Tottenham, in that part of the forest that lies between the 

 Column and the spot where Savernake Lodge once stood, number- j 

 less oaks will be found of from fifteen up to twenty feet and more j 

 in circumference, and of great height ; vigorous, sound, and still 

 growing trees. Among the patriarchs are some, which, though hoi- ! 

 low, and greatly broken and disfigured by the loss of immense limbs 

 and branches, are noble relics of the past. Of these, two may be par- 

 ticularly mentioned, — the " King's Oak," and the " Duke's Taunt," 

 each measuring, at five feet from the ground, about twenty-five 

 feet in circumference. In another part of the forest is the 

 " Decanter Oak," (so called from its singular form, which somewhat 

 resembles an old fashioned decanter) it is of about equal girth with 

 the two first named. Nor is Longleat less famous for its oaks. 

 There, too, are numbers of as noble specimens as any one can desire 

 to see. Trees of all ages, and almost of all sizes, though certainly 

 none equal to the famed " Golynos Oak," which, although measuring 



