118 



THE ELM. 



large branches near the centre. Its venerable 

 trunk is richly mantled with ivy, and gives signs of 

 considerable age ; but the luxuriance of its foliage 

 attests its vigour, and it is as fine a specimen of 

 its species in full beauty as can be found. 



The Crawley Elm, described by the same au- 

 thor, is a well-known object to travellers by the 

 high-road between London and Brighton, attract- 

 ing attention by its tall and straight stem, which 

 is seventy feet high, and by the fantastic rugged- 

 ness of its widely-spreading roots. Its trunk is 

 perforated to the very top, and measures sixty- 

 one feet in circumference at the ground, and 

 thirty-five feet round the inside, at two feet from 

 the base. There is a regular door to the cavity in 

 this tree, the key of which is kept by the lord of 

 the manor ; but it is opened on particular occa- 

 sions, when the neighbours meet to regale them- 

 selves within the cavity, which is capable of con- 

 taining a party of more than a dozen. The floor 

 is paved with bricks. Madame de Genlis says 

 that a poor woman gave birth to a child in the 

 hollow of this tree, and afterwards resided there 

 for a long time. 



Scarcely less remarkable than this, was the 

 Northover Elm, which a few years ago stood on the 

 lawn of Northover House, Ilchester. It measured 

 fifty-eight feet nine inches in girth close to the 

 ground, and fifty-four feet six at a height of ten 

 feet. At about thirteen feet from the ground 

 it threw out seven large branches in a circular 

 manner. On these was constructed a room, ca- 

 pable of containing twenty persons, in which the 

 late Mr. Chichester, one of the magistrates of 

 the county of Somerset, was, during the summer 



