34 



SYLVA BRTTANNICA. 



with the greatest care and attention. That they 

 often possessed a double claim on the regard of the 

 young, by being made the witnesses of vows not 

 likely to be forgotten, we may gather from the plain- 

 tive injunction Herrick puts into the mouth of one 

 of his lovers, in his Hesperides : 



" Dearest, bury me 



Under that holy oke, or Gospel Tree ; 



Where, though thou see'st not, thou may'st think upon 



Me, when thou yeerly go'st Procession." 



The Gospel Oak near Stoneleigh stands in a little 

 retired coppice, the solitude of which is equally 

 favourable to thought and to devotion, to the reveries 

 of the philosopher on ages past, and the contem- 

 plation of the Christian on the ages to come. 



Lucos et ipsa silentia adoramus. 



In the fresh fields, His own Cathedral meet. 

 Built by Himself, star-roof'd, and hung with green. 

 Wherein all breathing things, in concord sweet, 

 Organ'd by winds, perpetual hymns repeat." 



THE COWTHORPE OAK. 



This gigantic and venerable tree stands at the 

 extremity of the village of Cowthorpe, near We- 

 therby, in Yorkshire, in a retired field, sheltered 

 on one side by the ancient church belonging to the 

 place, and on another by a farm-house ; the rural 



