PART III. ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

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Augsburg, under whose prodigious shade they so often feast and celebratetheir weddings; because they are all of them noted for their reverend an-tiquity; that of Basil branching out one hundred paces in diameter from a stemof about 20 ft. in circle, under which the German emperors have sometimeseaten ; and to such trees, it seems, they paid divine honours, as the nearestemblems of eternity.’ {Hunt. Evel., ii. p. 180.) At Neustadt, in Wirtemburg,there is a prodigious lime tree, which gives its name to the town, that beingcalled Neustadt an der Linden. This tree is said by Evelyn to have had, inhis time, a trunk above 27 ft. in circumference, and the diameter of the spacecovered by its branches to have been 403 ft. It was ‘ set about with diverscolumns and monuments of stone (82 in number, and formerly above 100more), which several princes and noble persons have adorned, and which, asso many pillars, serve likewise to support the umbrageous and venerableboughs; and that even the tree had been much ampler, the ruins and distancesof the columns declare, which the rude soldiers have greatly impaired.’ {Ibid.,p. 187.) Evelyn adds copies of many of the inscriptions on the columns, theoldest of which is dated 1550; and the column on which it is inscribedsupports one of the largest limbs, at a considerable distance from the tree,which must thus have been of enormous size nearly three hundred yearsago. In the wars which afterwards desolated the country, this lime treesuffered severely; and Gilpin tells us that its limbs were mangled in wanton-ness by the troops besieging Neustadt. This tree is still (1838) in exist-ence; and, by a drawing of it made for us in 1837, by M. Abresch, ayoung German artist, we find that its trunk is now 18 ft. in diameter, and issurrounded by a balustrade of wood raised on a low wall coped with stone;and that its limbs are supported on 108 columns. The people of Neustadtare in the habit of sitting in this tree to eat fruit, &c. ; and several gooseberrybushes have sprung up in the crevices and hollows of the bark, the fruit ofwhich is sold to visiters.

“ Evelyn mentions another remarkable lime at Cleves, cut in eight sides,supported on pillars, and having a room in the middle of the tree ; and anotherat Tillburg, near Buda, in Hungary, growing in the middle of the street, andhaving its branches supported by 28 columns. Besides these trees, he notices‘ the famous tilia of Zurich; ’ and ‘ the linden of Schalouse, in Swisse,under which is a bower, composed of its branches, capable of containing300 persons sitting at ease : it has a fountain set about with many tables,formed only of the boughs, to which they ascend by steps, all kept so accu-rately, and so very thick, that the sun never looks into it.’ {Ibid.) In Evelyn’sDiary, he tells us that, in the year 1641, in the cloister garden of the Conventof St. Clara, at Bois le Due, there was an overgrown lime tree, out of the stemof which, near the root, ‘ issued five upright exceedingly tall suckers, or boles,the like whereof, for evenness and height, were never observed.’ {Diary,&c., 8vo edit., i. p. 38.) ‘ An extraordinary and stately tilia, linden, or lime

tree, there groweth at Depeham, in Norfolk, ten miles from Norwich, whosemeasure is this:—The compass, in the least part of the trunk or body, at about6 ft. from the ground, is 26 ft.; near the ground, 46 feet; and at 3 ft., 36 ft.The height is about 90 ft.’ {Ibid.)

“ In the cemetery of the hospital at Annaberg, in Saxony, is a very old limetree, with enormous branches. The planter of this tree, who is buried underits shade, left a sum of money to have a sermon preached every TrinitySunday under it. This tree is of enormous size, and is said, when young,to have been planted with its head downwards, and root upwards.

“ In Prussia, near Konigsberg, are two large lime trees growing closelytogether on a grassy bank. The legend is, that beneath these trees are buried, abride who died on her wedding day, and her husband, who did not long surviveher loss, both lying in one grave. This tree is a favourite trysting-place forlovers. In the churchyard at Seidlitz, in Bohemia, are some old lime trees,the leaves of which are hooded; and the peasants affirm that they have beenso ever since some monks from a neighbouring convent were hanged on the