LETTER VII. 



65 



evinces as great activity in the vital processes as ever 

 — that is to say, is every year the seat of as energetic 

 a circulation of sap ; puts forth every year, and 

 matures, leaves and buds, and flowers and fruit, as 

 large and perfect as in its earliest years ; and every 

 year, notwithstanding the dropping off and destruction 

 of its dead parts, is having additional bulk given to it. 

 And I instanced, in illustration of all this, the Oak of 

 Allonville, the hollow trunk of which has been a little 

 paved chapel these hundred and fifty years or more, 

 and which, although now from 800 to 900 years old, 

 is still vigorous, and still bears abundance of acorns. 



2. This general fact I then adduced as an argument 

 against the old theory of trees. I now adduce it as 

 an argument in favour of mine. Before proceeding^ 

 however, to the proof and vindication of this theory, I 

 purpose dwelling for a little on the history of some of 

 those reliques of bygone ages, and submitting to you 

 some further observations on trees, with a view to the 

 introduction of certain details still needed to make the 

 exposition of the theory complete. 



3. Of old trees still extant in this country, and still 

 living and growing, we need not look beyond the Tew 

 tribe. There are indeed Oaks, Limes, Sycamores, 

 Chesnuts, Ashes, and others, of great antiquity and 

 vast size, some of them coeval with the Conquest, some 

 of them probably much older still ; but they all sink 

 into insignificance before the Yews. Of these, there 



