CHAP. CV.

coryla'cete. que'rcus.

1753

was considered as an omen that some great misfortune would befall thenation. According to Davies’s Celtic Researches and Inquiry into the Mytho-logy of the Druids, the apple tree was considered as the next sacred tree tothe oak, and orchards of it were always planted near a grove of druids’ oaks.This was also favourable to the production of the mistletoe, as it grows abun-dantly on the apple tree, and might be easily propagated by birds, or any otheraccidental mode of transporting the seed. The well-known chorus of “ Heyderry down,” according to Professor Burnet, was a druidic chaunt, sig-nifying, literally, “ In a circle the oak move around.” Criminals were triedunder an oak tree; the judge being placed under the tree, with the jury besidehim, and the culprit placed in a circle made by the chief druid’s wand. TheSaxons also held their national meetings under an oak; and the celebratedconference between the Saxons and the Britons, after the invasion of theformer, was held under the oaks of Dartmoor. The wood of the oak wasappropriated to the most memorable uses : King Arthur’s round table wasmade of it, as was the cradle of Edward III., when he was born at CaernarvonCastle; this sacred wood being chosen, in the hope of conciliating the feelingsof the Welch, who still retained the prejudices of their ancestors, the ancientBritons. It was considered unlucky to cut down any celebrated tree : andEvelyn gravely relates a story of two men who cut down the Vicar’s Oak, inSurrey; one losing his eye, and the other breaking his leg, soon after.

Biography of the Oak. Several individual oak trees are connected withhistorical facts or legends, or are remarkable for their age, size, or other cir-cumstances ; and we shall now give a short account of the most celebrated ineach county, arranging the counties in alphabetical order.

Bedfordshire. The Abbot’s Oak, at Woburn Abbey, which may be called anEnglish dool tree, is a low pollard-like tree, with nothing remarkable in itsappearance, though the associations connected with it are extremely interest-ing. On the branches of this tree, according to Stowe and other historians,exactly three centuries ago, the abbot and prior of Woburn, the vicar ofPuddington, and “ other contumacious persons,” were hanged by order ofHenry VIII. Dodds, in his Church History of England, states that RogerHobbs, the abbot of Woburn at that time, “ nobly disdaining to compromise hisconscience for a pension, as most of his brethren did, and as many others whodo not wear a cowl do at the present day, resolutely denied the king’s supre-macy, and refused to surrender his sarcedotal rights. For this contumaciousconduct, he was, in 1537, together with the vicar of Puddington, in this county[Bedfordshire], and others who opposed the requisition, hanged on an oaktree in front of the monastery, which is standing in the present day [1742],He was drawn to the place of execution on a sledge, as is the custom withstate prisoners.” We saw this tree in September, 1836, and found it in perfecthealth, though with few arms that would be considered large enough for thepurpose to which the tree was once applied. On a board nailed to the treeare painted the following lines, written by J. W. Wiffin, Esq.: —

“ Oh!’t was a ruthless deed! enough to paleFreedom’s bright fires, that doom’d to shameful deathThose who maintain’d their faith with latest breath,

And scorn’d before the despot’s frown to quail.

Yet ’twas a glorious hour, when from the goalOf papal tyranny the mind of manDared to break loose, and triumph’d in the banOf thunders roaring in the distant gale!

Yes, old memorial of the mitred monk,

Thou liv’st to flourish in a brighter day,

And seem’st to smile, that pure and potent vowsAre breathed where superstition reign’d : thy trunkIts glad green garland wears, though in decay,

And years hang heavy on thy time-stain’d boughs.”

The Leaden Oak, in Ampthill Park, so called from a large piece of lead havingbeen fixed on it many years ago, is remarkable for having been one of theoaks marked in a survey made of the park in the time of Cromwell, as beingthen too old for naval timber. It is 67 ft. high; its trunk is 30 ft. G in. in