74 



THE OAK. 



eleven vast arms, yet not in the horizontal manner 

 of an Oak, but in that of a Beech. Beneath its 

 shade, which overspreads an area of three hun- 

 dred feet in circuit, an annual fair has long been 

 held on the 2nd of July, and no booth is suffered 

 to be erected beyond the extent of its boughs. 

 But as their extremities are now become sapless, 

 and age is yearly curtailing their length, the li- 

 berties of the fair seem to be in a very despond- 

 ing condition. The honour, however, is great. 

 But honours are often accompanied by inconve- 

 niencies, and Fairlop has suffered from its honour- 

 able distinctions. In the feasting that attends 

 a fair, fires are often necessary, and no places 

 seemed so proper to make them in as the hollow 

 cavities formed by the heaving roots of the tree. 

 This practice has brought a speedier decay on 

 Fairlop than it might otherwise have suffered."* 



Phillips, in his Companion to the Orchard, adds 

 the following notice of the same tree. This 

 venerable Oak was cut down previous to the fair 

 in 1820. The founder of this fair was a Mr. 

 Daniel Day, commonly called the Good Day, w^ho 

 was born in the parish of St. Mary Overy, in 1682 ; 

 his father was an opulent brewer, but Mr. Day 

 followed the business of a block and pump -maker 

 in Wapping, and possessing a small estate in 

 Essex, at no great distance from this remarkable 

 tree, he used, on the first Friday in July, annu- 

 ally to repair thither, having given his accustomed 

 invitation to a party of his neighbours to accom- 

 pany him, for the purpose of dining under the 

 shade of its branches and leaves on beans and 

 bacon. This benevolent as well as humorous 



* Gilpin. 



