THE OAK. 



71 



which is so ornamental to the whole building, this 

 tree might probably be in the meridian of its 

 glory, or rather, perhaps, it had attained a green 

 old age. But it must have been manifestly in its 

 decline at that memorable era when the tyranny 

 of James gave the fellows of Magdalen so noble an 

 opportunity of withstanding bigotry and supersti- 

 tion. It was afterwards much injured in Charles 

 the Second's time, when the present walks were 

 laid out. Its roots were disturbed, and from that 

 period it declined fast, and became reduced by 

 degrees to little more than a mere trunk. The 

 oldest members of the University can scarce recol- 

 lect it in better plight. But the faithful records 

 of history have handed dov/n its ancient dimen- 

 sions. Through a space of sixteen yards on every 

 side from its trunk, it once flung its boughs, and 

 under its magnificent pavilion could have shel- 

 tered with ease three thousand men, though in 

 its decayed state it could for many years do little 

 more than shelter some luckless individual whom 

 the driving shower had overtaken in his evening 

 walk. In the summer of the year 1788, this mag- 

 nificent ruin fell to the ground, alarming the Col- 

 lege with its rushing sound. It then appeared 

 how precariously it had stood for many years. 

 Its grand tap-root was decayed, and it had hold 

 of the earth only by two or three roots, of which 

 none was more than a couple of inches in dia- 

 meter. From a part of its ruins a chair has been 

 made for the President of the College, which 

 will long continue its memory."* 



Among several celebrated Oaks in Windsor 

 Forest^ Loudon mentions one called the King 



« * Gilpin. 



