84 



THE OAK. 



Felicissimam arborem quam in asylum 

 potentissimi regis Caroli Secundi Deus Opt. Max. 

 per quern reges regnant hie crescere 



voluit tam in perpetuam rei tantse 

 memoriam quam in specimen firmae 

 in reges fidei muro cinctam 

 posteris commendant Bazilius 

 et Jana Fitzherbert. 

 Quercus arnica Jovi.* 



'Twas put up about twenty or thirty years 

 ago ; but the place deserved a better memorial. I 

 have writ it in such lines as they have cut it, and 

 as the letters now stand ; a few years will ruine 

 both the wall and the inscription." 



The emblematical medal my good friend al- 

 ludes to is the XLVii. in Mr. Evelyn's Numis- 

 mata, which King Charles caused to be stamped 

 in honour of the installation of his son ; whereupon 

 is the Royal Oak under a Prince's coronet, over- 

 spreading subnascent trees and young suckers." 



In the year 1812, or thereabouts, and before he 

 was aware of Mr. Plaxton's notice, Mr. Dale dis- 

 covered portions of the above inscription on a 

 blue stone, in letters of gold," among the long and 

 neglected grass on the Mount in Boscobel Garden. 

 After spending some time in arranging the frag- 

 ments, he communicated the discovery to the oc- 

 cupants of the house, who appear to have taken 

 little interest in the relic. The house and grounds 

 have passed into other hands, and the fragments 

 of the stone in all probability lie buried beneath 

 the present garden walks, which were laid out 



* Translation. — This most highly favoured tree, planted by the 

 God through whom kings reign to afford shelter to his Majesty King 

 Charles the Second, was enclosed with a wall by Basil and Jane 

 Fitzherbert, as well to preserve to posterity a memorial of the 

 auspicious event as to be a token of their own steadfast loyalty. 



