310 



THE ^EW. 



sawn out of some of the arms^ only torn from it 

 by impetuous winds." The former of these trees 

 is still in existence ; it stands near the east end 

 of the church, and measures ten yards nine inches 

 in girth, at about the height of five feet from the 

 ground. The trunk has been hollowed out, and 

 is filled up with narrow benches round the sides, 

 and a table in the centre. At a farm-house hard 

 by is shewn a cannon-ball weighing upwards of 

 twenty-five pounds, which is said to have been 

 found imbedded in the trunk when it was hol- 

 lowed out many years ago. The tree is dead at 

 the top, and the branches to the south were 

 broken off by a violent storm on the 22ni of 

 December, 1845. It consequently has a very 

 naked appearance on this side ; but the remain- 

 ing branches, though much decayed, are still 

 green and healthy.* The figure at the head of 

 this chapter represents the tree as it appeared 

 previously to the storm of 1845. 



The Rev. James Brothers, Vicar of Brabourne, 

 informs me that the second of the trees re- 

 corded by Evelyn has so long ceased to exist, 

 that not the least traditionary remembrance 

 of it remains in the parish or neighbourhood. 

 Tourists, misled by the Histories of Kent, which 

 describe the tree as if it yet stood, pay frequent 

 visits to Brabourne, and are not a little disap- 

 pointed at not being able to find even a relic of 

 the venerable monster. 



In the churchyard of the village of Gresford, 

 Denbighshire, stands a Yew-tree, which measures 

 thirty feet in girth at the height of four feet from 



* This account was kindly furnished me by the Rev. Fitzherbert 

 Fuller. 



