CHAP. CV.

COIlYLA'CEiE. QUE'rCUS.

1755

ing; at least there is a tree which some old inhabitants of Windsor consideras such, and which their fathers did before them — the best proof, perhaps, ofits identity. In following the footpath which leads from the Windsor roadto Queen Adelaide’s Lodge, in the LittlePark, about half way on the right, a deadtree (of which fig. 1588. is a portrait) maybeseen close to an avepue of elms. This iswhat is pointed out as Herne’s Oak; I canalmost fancy it the very picture of death. Nota leaf, not a particle of vitality appears aboutit. The hunter must have blasted it. Itstretches out its bare and sapless branches,like the skeleton arms of some enormousgiant, and is almost fearful in its decay. Noneof the delightful associations connected withit have however vanished, nor is it difficult tofancy it as the scene of Falstaff’s distress, andthe pranks of the ‘ Merry Wives.’ Amongmany appropriate passages which it broughtto my recollection was the following: —

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■ ■ •■■■ * There want not many that do fearIn deep of night to walk by this Herne’s Oak,*

Its spectral branches might indeed deter many from coming near it, ‘ ’twixttwelve and one.’

“ The footpath which leads across the park is stated to have passed in formertimes close to Herne’s Oak. The path is now at a little distance from it, andwas probably altered in order to protect the tree from injury. I was glad tofind ‘ a pit hard by,’ where ‘ Nan and her troop of fairies, and the Welch devilEvans,’ might all have ‘ couch’d,’ without being perceived by the ‘ fat Windsorstag’ when he spake like ‘ Herne the hunter.’ The pit above alluded to hasrecently had a few thorns planted in it, and the circumstance of its being nearthe oak, with the diversion of the footpath, seems to prove the identity of thetree, in addition to the traditions respecting it:—

* There is an old tale goes, that Herne the hunter,

Sometime a keeper here in Windsor Forest,

Doth all the winter time, at still midnight,

Walk round about an oak, with great ragg’d horns,

And there he blasts the tree.’

The last acorn, I believe, which was found on Herne’s Oak was given to thelate Sir David Dundas of Richmond, and was planted by him on his estatein Wales, where it now flourishes, and has a suitable inscription near it. 1have reason to think that Sir David Dundas never entertained . ,a doubt of the tree I have referred to being Herne’s Oak, andhe had the best opportunities of ascertaining it. In diggingholes near the tree lately, for the purpose of fixing the pre-sent fence round it, several old coins were found, as if theyhad been deposited there as future memorials of the interestthis tree had excited.” (Jesse's Glean, in Nat. Hist., 2d s.,p. 117.) By others another tree was said to be Herne’s Oak,of which fig. 1589. is a portrait taken from nature some years ago. This tree,which no longer exists, had been in a decaying state for more than half acentury before our drawing was made.

Buckinghamshire. The large oak at Wootton (fig. 1590.) is, probably, one ofthe handsomest in England. Its trunk measures 25 ft. in circumference at 1 ft.from the ground; and at the height of 12 ft. it divides into four large limbs,the principal of which is 15 ft. in circumference. It is above 90 ft. high, andcovers an area of 150 ft. in diameter with its branches. The great beautyof this tree is the breadth of its head, occasioned by the enormous sizeof its limbs; which gives it so completely the character of the oak, that

1589