414 
12 feet 8£ inches, and then divided into fifteen large, 
ascending branches, which, in very numerous and 
crowded subdivisions, spreads at the top in a circular 
form, not unlike the appearance of a shady oak, in¬ 
clining a little towards the east. The circumference 
of the trunk, at the bottom, was 15 feet 9£ inches; 
in the middle, 11 feet 10 inches; and at the top, imme¬ 
diately below the branches, 13 feet. The entire height 
of the tree was 40 feet, and the circumference of the 
branches, at their extremities, upwards of 200 feet— 
overshading a plane not far short of 4000 feet. The 
most moderate computation of its age was, at that time, 
near fourscore years (this would bring the date of its 
being planted to the year 1700—Johnson was born 
1709). Several views of this fine tree have been already 
published. There are two portraits of it in the Gar¬ 
dener's Magazine for 1785. These were taken before 
the tree had arrived at its full growth; for, in 1810, Dr. 
Withering measured the tree, and found the trunk to 
girth 21 feet, at G feet from the ground; and to extend 
20 feet in height, before dividing into enormous ramifi¬ 
cations.; the trunk and branches were then perfectly 
round; but, in November in that year, a violent storm 
swept away many of the branches; and nearly half of 
what remained fell to the ground in August, 1815. At 
the time of Mr. Westwood’s acquaintance with it, about 
1822, it exhibited the appearance given in the above 
woodcut—the trunk being hollow, having a deep rent 
on the south-west side (shewn in the cut); and a far 
greater hole in the east side, into which boys used often 
to creep; in fact, in 1825, the trunk }v,asmuch burnt, by 
some urchins who had made a fire in the interior, but 
the town fire-engine having been brought into requisi¬ 
tion the flames were subdued; but, in April, 1829, the 
tree was blown down in a violent storm, A lithograph 
sketch of its appearance shortly before its fall was 
| published, which has been copied in Loudon’s Arlo- 
I return, iii. p. 1521, in which work we further read, that, 
i after the tree was blown down, Mr. Holmes, a coach- 
maker, residing in Lichfield, and the proprietor of the 
■ ground on which Johnson’s Willow stood, regretting 
| that there was no young tree to plant in its stead, 
i recollected that the year before a large branch had been 
blown down, part of which had been used as pea-sticks 
in his garden; and examined them, to see if any of 
them had taken root. Finding that one had, he had it 
removed to the site of the old tree, and planted there in 
fresh soil; a band of music, and a number of persons 
attending its removal, and a dinner afterwards being 
given, by Mr. Holmes, to his friends and the admirers 
of Johnson. The young tree is now thriving. 
At the time of its fall, Johnson’s Willow was esti¬ 
mated to be of the age of 130 years, and its greatest 
height appears to have been about sixty feet. After it 
was blown down, some of Johnson’s admirers, at Lich¬ 
field, had its remains converted into snuff-boxes and 
similar articles. 
There is a circumstance connected with tins tree 
September 1. I 
which bears strongly upon its connexion with Dr. 
Johnson, that it seems surprising that none of Dr. 
Johnson’s biographers should have mentioned it. The ! 
little cottage shewn in our engraving (shorn, indeed, of 
its fair proportions by the artist, who has also omitted 
the row of windows beneath the arched eaves in the 
thatched roof) is called “ the Parchment House,” or 
Cottage. It is now converted into two dwellings. 
Now, it happens, that Johnson’s father, who was a 
bookseller at Lichfield, engaged unsuccessfully in the 
manufacture of parchment, and it was in this cottage, 
doubtless, that the manufacture was carried on up to at 
least 1725, at which time Dr. Johnson was sixteen years 
old. It was in this year that the father was proceeded 
against by the Excise Office for duties levied on the 
parchment, and it is this circumstance that led Johnson, i 
in his Dictionary, to give so violent a definition of the 
word Excise, namely, “ a hateful tax, levied upon com¬ 
modities, and adjudged not by the common judges of 
property, but by wretches hired by those to whom excise 
is paid.” See further, Boswell's Life of Johnson, by 
Croker, 1. p. 31, note. 
From the close proximity of the tree to the “ Parch¬ 
ment” Cottage, we can easily conceive that Johnson’s 
interest was excited long before it became famous on 
account of its size, for, if not planted before 1700, it 
would then have possessed no interest on that account, 
whereas, if it’had been planted either by the father 
(who was born in 1650, and who certainly was a resident 
at Lichfield in 1687), or by the son, or had attracted 
the attention of the latter when a boy, from living close 
to the spot, we can easily understand his statement, that 
'‘it.was the delight both of his early and waning life;” 
and, in fact, since the above lines were written, an aged 
relation, who was well acquainted with the late Rev. 
H. White, the clergyman of Stow Church, and the 
fi-iend and great admirer of Johnson, has stated that 
she was told by Mrs. White, that the twig, which 
grew to be Johnson’s tree, was struck into the ground 
by Johnson himself. Supposing this to have been done 
when lie was a lad of ten years old, the tree was not 
more than 105 years old at the time of its destruction, 
which gives us 100 years as the ordinary duration of a 
tree of this kind. 
A botanical friend writes to us thus—“ I have cer¬ 
tainly met with several Willows of larger dimensions ; 
than Dr. Johnson’s tree. There is a large Willow close 
to Stratford, which, I think, might well be dedicated to 
Shakspere, since it is the only tree of any magnitude 
I could find near Stratford. There was also a Willow 
of some size, a dozen years since, in the grounds were 
Mrs. Thrale lived (Johnson’s friend), somewhere, near 
London (at Streatliam), but whether in existence now, 
I cannot say. I remember that Blyth, who is now 
curator to the R. A. S., at Calcutta, took me to it.” As 
Johnson was constantly at Mrs. Thrale’s house, the 
Streatliam tree may have been planted by Johnson 
himself, from a cutting of his Lichfield tree.—I. O. W. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
