THE WILLOW. 



101 



of the members of the far-famed and splendid 

 monastery, which took place in the reign of Henry 

 VIII. Of this, however, there is no certain proof ; 

 but its vast dimensions plainly indicate it to have 

 been the growth of centuries. Notwithstanding 

 the great space its spreading branches occupy, it 

 has hitherto suflfered but little, either from wind or 

 time, nor does it at present exhibit any symptoms 

 of decay. The soil around is certainly of a nature 

 genial to this class of aquatic trees ; for which, as 

 Evelyn observes, a bank at a foot distance from the 

 water, is kinder than a bog, or to be altogether im- 

 . mersed in the water ; "for they love not to wet their 

 feet," and last the longer for being kept mode- 

 rately dry : nevertheless, the Abbot's Willow may 

 owe some of its freshness and vigour to a part of its 

 roots communicating with the bed of a small adjoin- 

 ing river, the Lark, on whose bank it stands, in the 

 vicinity of the Botanic Garden : an establishment 

 to which the town and neighbourhood of Bury St. 

 Edmund's are indebted for some of the most elegant 

 and instructive of their recreations, through the 

 exertions of Nathaniel Hodson, Esq., its proprietor; 

 a gentleman whose diligent research in botanical 

 science, and general taste in all branches of natural 

 history, are already well known to the public. 



The measurements of this tree, as taken by Mr. 

 Lenny, an able and accurate Surveyor at Bury, are 

 as follows : Its height is seventy-five feet : the cir- 



