THE OAK. 



45 



lines we have concluded the account of the Cow- 

 thorpe Oak, that little apology will be necessary 

 for giving his own words ; particularly as the man- 

 sion, in his graphic delineation of it, appears in such 

 perfect keeping with the tree, that it would be 

 equally repugnant to taste and good feeling to sepa- 

 rate them : 



" You surprised me in saying, that you never 

 heard of the tree called Queen Elizabeth's Oak, at 

 Huntingfield, in Suffolk, till I mentioned it. As 

 the distance from Aspal is not more than a morn- 

 ing's airing, I wish you and your pupil would ride 

 over to take a view of it. You may, at the same 

 time, I believe, have an opportunity of seeing a very 

 fine drawing of this grand object, which was made 

 for Sir Gerard Vanneck, by Mr. Hearne. As 1 

 measured it with that ingenious artist in a rough 

 way, to settle, in some degree, the proportions of its 

 bulk, it was found to be nearly eleven yards in cir- 

 cumference, at the height of seven feet from the 

 ground ; and, if we may conjecture from the con- 

 dition of other trees of the same sort, in different 

 parts of the kingdom, whose ages are supposed to 

 be pretty well ascertained, from some historical cir- 

 cumstances, I am persuaded this cannot be less than 

 five or six hundred years old. 



" The time of growth in trees is generally said to 

 be proportioned to the duration of their timber after- 

 ward ; and I have now by me a piece of oak, taken 



