16 



SYLVA BRITANNICA. 



THE BEGGAR'S OAK 



is a fine sample of the real Park Oak, unpruned, 

 unpollarded, throwing its broad arms around in all 

 the freedom and majesty of its nature. It is sup- 

 posed to have received its name from the accommo- 

 dation it is so w^ell calculated to afford in its ample 

 canopy, " star- proof," and its moss-grown roots, 

 to the weary mendicants who may in former times 

 have been tempted to seek the shade of its branches 

 for repose or shelter. Its girth at five feet from the 

 ground is twenty feet ; the circumference of the 

 roots which project above the surface of the ground 

 is sixty-eight feet, and the branches extend about 

 sixteen yards from the trunk in every direction. It 

 contains by admeasurement eight hundred and 

 seventy-seven cubic feet of timber, which, including 

 the bark, would have produced, at a price offered 

 for it in 1812, the sum of £202. 14^. 9d. But this 

 noble tree, as well as many other of the " giants of 

 the forest," with which Bagot's Park abounds, are 

 secure from the axe, under the protection of their 

 present munificent proprietor; who best shows his 

 sense of the value of the woody domains received 

 from his ancestors, by endeavouring to secure the 

 same gratification to his posterity ; annually planting 

 a large portion of his estates, with a taste and zeal 



