12 
PLATE XX.—THE WOTTON OAK. 
Tus Tree is in the park of Wotton, under Bernwood, a seat belonging to his Grace the Duke of Buckingham. 
It measures twenty-five feet in circumference, at one foot from the ground, and at the height of twelve feet divides 
into four large limbs, the principal of which is fifteen feet in circumference. It rises to the height of about ninety 
feet, and covers an area of fifty yards in diameter with its branches, recalling to. the mind of the spectator Virgil’s 
magnificent description of a similar object : 
—whose roots descend 
As low towards Pluto’s realms, as high in air 
———"—que, quantum vertice ad auras Its massive branches rise. The utmost rage 
Alitherias, tantum radice in Tartara tendit. Of wintry storms howls o’er its strength in vain. 
Ergo non hyemes illam, non flabra, neque imbres Successive generations of mankind, 
Convellunt : immota manet, multosque nepotes, Revolving ages, flourish and decay, 
Multa virum volvens durando szcula vincit. Yet still immoveable it stands, and throws 
Tum fortes late ramos et branchia tendens Its vigorous limbs around, and proudly bears 
Huc illuc, media ipsa ingentem sustinet umbram, With firm and solid trunk its stately form, 
A mighty canopy of thickest shade. 
Viren, Georg. 11. 291. 
PLATE XXI.—_THE YEW TREES AT FOUNTAINS’ ABBEY 
Tuuse remarkable Yew Trees stand on a small eminence at Studley Royal, near Ripon, overlooking the 
ruins of Fountains’ Abbey, which celebrated monastery was founded about the end of the year 1132, by Thur- 
stan, Archbishop of York, for certain Monks whose consciences being too tender to allow them to indulge in the 
relaxed habits of their own order, made them desirous of following the more rigorous rule of the Cistercians’ 
founded by the celebrated Saint Bernard, and then lately introduced into England. Of the origin of Fountains’ 
Abbey, as the date of these Yew Trees is particularly connected with it, the following account from Burton may 
not be deemed unacceptable : 
« At Christmas, the Archbishop, being at Ripon, assigned to the Monks some land in the patrimony of St. 
Peter, about three miles west of that place, for the erecting of a monastery. The spot of ground had never been 
inhabited, unless by wild beasts, being overgrown with wood and brambles, lying between two steep hills and 
rocks, covered with wood on all sides, more proper for a retreat for wild beasts than for the human species. 
This was called Skeldale, that is, the Vale of Skell, a rivulet running through it from the west to the eastward 
part of it. The Archbishop also gave to them a neighbouring village called Sutton. Richard, the Prior of St, 
Mary’s, at York, was chosen Abbot by the Monks, being the first of this monastery of Fountains; with whom 
they withdrew into this uncouth desert, without any house to shelter them in that winter season, or provisions 
to subsist on, but entirely depending on Divine Providence. There stood a large Elm in the midst of the vale, on 
which they put some thatch or straw, and under that they lay, eat, and prayed; the Bishop for a time supplying 
them with bread, and the rivulet with drink. Part of the day some spent in making wattles to erect a little 
oratory, whilst others cleared some ground to make a little garden. But it is supposed that they soon changed 
the shelter of their Elm for that of seven Yew Trees growing on the declivity of the hill on the south side of the 
abbey, all standing at this present time, except the largest, which was blown down about the middle of the last 
century. They are of an extraordinary size; the trunk of one of them is twenty-six feet six inches in circum- 
ference, at the height of three feet from the ground, and they stand so near each other as to form a cover almost 
equal to a thatched roof. Under these trees, we are told by tradition, the monks resided till they built the 
monastery ; which seems to be very probable, if we consider how little a Yew Tree increases in a year, and to 
what a bulk these are grown. And as the hill side was covered with wood, which is now almost all cut down, 
except these trees, it seems as if they were left standing to perpetuate the memory of the monks’ habitation there 
during the first winter of their residence.” 
SPR Sprites tog Doge oasis cir ay 
