80 



THE OAIC. 



nearly a thousand horse. The Oakley Oak, now 

 growing on an estate of the Duke of Bedford, has 

 a head of an hundred and ten feet in diameter. 

 The Oak called Rohur Britannicum, in the Park 

 at Rycote, is said to have been extensive enough 

 to cover five thousand men ; and at EUerslie, in 

 Renfrewshire, the native village of the hero 

 Wallace, there is still standing ^the large Oak 

 tree,' among the branches of which it is said that 

 he and three hundred of his men hid themselves 

 from the English." 



In addition to this last, there are many old 

 Oaks which possess a legendary interest. Gilpin 

 tells us that, in Torwood, in the county of Stir- 

 ling, upon a little knoll, stands at this time the 

 ruins of an Oak, which is supposed to be the larg- 

 est tree that ever grew in Scotland. The trunk 

 of it is now wholly decayed and hollow, but it is 

 evident from what remains, that its diameter could 

 not have been less than eleven or twelve feet. 

 What its age may be, is matter only of conjecture ; 

 but, from some circumstances, it is probably a tree 

 of great antiquity. The little knoll it stands on 

 is surrounded by a swamp, over which a causeway 

 leads to the tree, or rather to the circle which 

 seems to have been round it. The vestiges of 

 this circle, as well as of the causeway, bear a plain 

 resemblance to those works which are commonly 

 attributed to the Druids ; so that it is probable 

 this tree was a scene of worship belonging to those 

 heathen priests. But the credit of it does not 

 depend on the dubious vestiges of Druid anti- 

 quity. In a later scene of greater importance (if 

 tradition ever be the vehicle of truth), it bore a 

 great share. When that illustrious hero, William 



