12 



SYLVA BRITANNICA. 



THE CHANDOS OAK, 



which stands in the pleasure-grounds of Michendon 

 House, at Southgate, the property of His Grace the 

 Duke of Buckingham, Its girth at one foot from 

 the ground is eighteen feet three inches; at three 

 feet, it is fifteen feet nine inches. The height of 

 the stem to the branches is eight feet ; and at that 

 distance from the ground it is seventeen feet in girth. 

 It is sixty feet in height, and the extremity of its 

 boughs includes a line of one hundred and eighteen 

 feet. It is in this last particular that its great 

 attraction consists. When it is in the full pride of 

 its foliage, it strikes the spectator with sensations 

 similar to those inspired by the magnificent Banyan 

 trees of the East. Its boughs bending to the 

 earth, with almost artificial regularity of form and 

 equidistance from each other, give it the appearance 

 of a gigantic tent ; with verdant draperies, drawn 

 up to admit the refreshing breezes that curl the 

 myriads of leaves which form altogether a mass of 

 vegetable beauty and grandeur, scarcely to be 

 equalled by any other production of the same 

 nature in the kingdom. It is a magnificent living 

 canopy — nuUi penetrabilis astro — impervious to the 

 day. If, however, in the full pride of summer, this 

 tree presents so refreshing a spectacle of breathing 



